


Wrath

by euryales



Category: Far Cry (Video Games), Far Cry 5
Genre: F/F, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, yea this isnt a happy story :/
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-18 16:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21680224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euryales/pseuds/euryales
Summary: Evelyn McDaniel has only been a Junior Deputy for several months, but is already receiving an extremely big and important task.
Relationships: Female Deputy | Judge/Joey Hudson
Comments: 7
Kudos: 22





	1. The Arrest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Although she's only been a deputy for six months, Sheriff Whitehorse wants her to arrest Joseph Seed. However, things go south.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited (18/03)

Evelyn had lived in Hope C ounty her entire life , born and raised. She was there when Joseph Seed and his brothers arrived and she, like everyone else, didn’t think anything of it. At first. Then, things only got worse. She still remembered how she got home one day to see her father painting over the word ‘Sinner’ Peggies had painted on their wall, the same day her mother went missing.

Not long after graduating high school, she found her passion in life: planes. At age twenty, she moved out of Hope County for a job at a small airport that offered plane tours. And while she’d come back home from time to time, last time she came back was completely different.

And now,  over a year later, she’s sitting in a helicopter, on her way to arrest Joseph fucking Seed.

YouTube stopped loading the video she was watching and she sighed.

“It’s no use, Evelyn,” Sheriff Whitehorse said, “You know Hope Count y is cut off from the rest of the world now.”

She sighed deeply and put her phone back in her  pocket. She looked up and met the US State Marshal’s eyes. The way he gazed at her made her uncomfortable and she quickly averted her eyes.

“Crossing over the Henbane now,” Staci announced. The statue of the Father came into view and Evelyn gritted her teeth at the sight. The statue was one of the unpleasant surprises she got when she came back from Helena, amongst other things.

“Oh fuck, there he is,” Joey groaned . “ Crazy motherfucker,”  Staci added.

“We’re officially in Peggie country.”

“How much longer?” Cameron, the US State Marshal asked.

Earl looked at him and said: “ Just long enough for you to change your mind so we can turn this bird around .”

Sheriff Whitehorse made it no secret that he’d prefer an entire army to take out Joseph Seed. After all, unlike  Cameron, he saw what the cult was capable of , just like Joey, Staci and even Evelyn.

“You want me to ignore a federal warrant, Sheriff?” Burke furrowed his eyebrows, waving the paper in his face.

“No, sir,” sighed Whitehorse, “I want you to understand the reality of this situation. Joseph Seed, he’s not a man to be fucked with. We’ve had run-ins with him before and they haven’t always gone our way. Just sometimes… Sometimes, it’s best to leave well enough alone.”

“Yeah well,” Marshal Burke said, clearly not having listened to anything the Sheriff said, “We have laws for a reason, Sheriff. And Joseph Seed is going to learn that.”

Sheriff Whitehorse hummed before turning towards Staci. “Pratt, open a call with dispatch,” he said. Staci did as told.

“Whitehorse to Dispatch. Over.”

“Go ahead, Earl,” a female voice came over the radio.

“We’re approaching the compound, Nancy. Over.”

“Roger, Sheriff. Still planning to go through with this? Over”

No one at the Sheriff’s office wanted to arrest Joseph Seed.  No one.

“We are, unfortunately, still trying to talk sense into our friend the Marshal. Over.”

Burke huffed.

“Alright…” Nancy chuckled, “He’s lucky I’m not there. If you get into any trouble you just let me know. Over.”

“Ten-four. Over and out.”

“Maybe we shoulda brought Nancy with us instead of the Probie,” Staci said, pointing his thumb at Evelyn which earned him a glare, “These Peggies wouldn’t fuck with her.”

Nancy was a sweet, middle aged woman with ginger hair who always brought coffee for everyone whenever she worked early, but could still terrify even the worst prisoner. No one wanted to get her angry.

“Pratt!” Joey interrupted and Evelyn looked away to hide the smile appearing on her face. Staci and Evelyn had a… Less than friendly rivalry going on and the fact that her girlfriend was defending her boosted her ego a bit.

“Why do you keep calling them Peggies?” Burke asked, curiously.

The Sheriff answered, looking out the window, “Project at Eden’s Gate. P. E. G., Peggies. It’s what the locals call them. You know, they started off harmless enough a few years back. But now… They’re armed to the teeth, lookin’ for a fight.”

Burke stared at him for a second.

“Are you scared, Sheriff?”

Sheriff Whitehorse didn’t have time to reply when Staci interrupted, thankfully.

“We’re here. Compound’s just below.”

Evelyn pulled her eyes away from the intense staring match between the Marshal and the Sheriff to look at the compound. Several houses, painted white with green roofs, were all placed in a n oval-like shape with at the end, a church.

She heard Whitehorse say something under his breath but she kept her eyes focussed on the compound.

“This is a bad idea,” Joey murmured and Evelyn couldn’t help but agree. Her leg bounced up and down against the floor of the helicopter as she bit her lip. Why did she have to come along again?

“Last chance, Marshal,” warned Sheriff Whitehorse.

Burke sighed, annoyed, “We’re going in.”

Evelyn could see Whitehorse matched his annoyance when he said, “Set her down, Pratt.”

“Roger that.”

The helicopter slowly descended into the compound until it completely stood still.

“Dispatch, you still there?”

“Yes, go ahead Sheriff.”

“You don’t hear from us in fifteen minutes, send in everyone,” he instructed, “Call the goddamn National Guard if you have to. Over.”. It was as if he was expecting something to happen. Then again, Evelyn felt the same.

“Yessir, Sheriff. I’ll be praying for you.”

As the Sheriff took off his headset, followed by Burke and Evelyn, he explained: “Now listen up. Three rules: Stick close, keep your guns in your holsters and let me do the talking. Got it?”

When he spoke about letting him do the talking, he intently stared at the Marshall.

“Evelyn?” he suddenly asked, turning towards her. She quickly nodded as she felt everyone staring at her.

“Alright everyone, stay sharp. Let’s go.”

Evelyn climbed out of the helicopter after Burke and her feet hit the ground with a thud. Several people already came to see what was going on and she’d be lying If she said their stares weren’t intimidating.

“He’ll be in the church, stick close,” Sheriff Whitehorse ordered, holding his hat down on his head firmly so it wouldn’t fly away. “Eyes open. These folks can spook easily.”

Joey briefly caught Evelyn’s gaze, “Evie, on me. Stay loose, huh?”

‘What are they doing here?’ she heard one of the strangers ask as she narrowly avoided their eyes.

“Be calm. Stay calm everyone,” Earl said, trying to stay in control, “Just go about your business, this doesn’t concern you.”

While Earl and Cameron walked a fair distance away, Joey stayed somewhat close to Evelyn. “I don’t like this,” she heard Joey confess.

“Everything’s fine, Hudson,” Earl said, trying to reassure her, “Everything’s just fine.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re wearing badges, aren’t you?” Cameron complained. They passed by a bench and when they approached, one of the Peggies jumped off it, but Evelyn stayed calm… For now.

“They don’t respect badges much out here,” Joey informed in a matter-of-fact kind of voice.

Cameron was quick to bite back, though, “They’ll respect a nine millimetre”.

“Not every problem can be solved with a bullet, Marshal,” Whitehorse interrupted.

As Evelyn walked past a fence, she heard cultists hurl all kinds of insults mixed with “What are you doing here?”. Dogs were barking but she was grateful for the fences keeping them back. She heard people singing Amazing Grace inside the church and it sounded so damn haunting. Last time Evelyn had heard that song was at her father’s funeral.

Just as Cameron moved to open the door, Earl stopped him. “Woah, Marshal. Now we do this, we do it my way. Quietly. Calmly. You get it?”

Evelyn met Joey’s eyes and saw how they expressed how she felt about Cameron Burke. It was safe to say no one was really happy with him being here.

Cameron muttered a ‘fine’ as Evelyn focussed on Joey’s brown eyes, until she looked away when Sheriff Whitehorse called her name. “Hudson, on the door. Watch our backs. Don’t let anyone through.”

“Rookie, on me.”

Again, she was a junior deputy – a new one at that – so why was she the one who’d have to arrest Joseph fucking Seed? Maybe Staci was right, maybe they should’ve brought Nancy along instead of her.

Whitehorse turned back to Cameron: “And you, just try not to do anything stupid.”

Cameron patted his shoulder, “Don’t worry Sheriff. You’re about to get your name in the paper.”

As Sheriff Whitehorse moved to open the door, Joey turned to Evelyn one last time: “You’ll be fine.”

Evelyn gave her a tight smile, albeit a bit forced and said a quick ‘thanks’.

The church itself was filled with armed cultists. They had stopped singing and the Father was speaking. “Something is coming,” he said, pacing back and forth on the small stage at the front of the church, “You can feel it, can’t you?”

As the Marshal and Sheriff’s footsteps echoed through the room, some of the people turned around to see their new arrivals.

“That we are creeping toward the edge… And there will be a reckoning…”

Joseph stopped pacing to stand in the middle. His shadow nearly reached the door because of the light shining behind him.

“That’s why we started The Project. Because we know what happens next. They will come. They will try to take from us. Take our guns. Take our freedom… Take our faith.”

Every time they passed a bench, the people sitting on it stood up.

“But we will not let them.”

“Sheriff, c’mon-“ Cameron sighed, tired of the Father already – understandably.

“Just hold on, Marshal,” whispered Earl, raising his hand to pause him.

“We will not let their greed, or their immorality, or their depravity hurt us anymore!”

Evelyn noticed another man standing next to the Father, wearing a long coat . His clothing was… Blue. John Seed.

“Sheriff-“

“Do not pull that trigger. Remain calm…”

“We will not let their depravity hurt us anymore! There will be no more suffering!”

Despite the Sheriff’s best efforts, Cameron said “Fuck this.”

He pulled out the warrant and pointed it at Joseph. “Joseph Seed,” he called out over the Father’s booming voice, “I have a warrant issued for your arrest on the suspicion of kidnapping with the intent to harm!”

“Now I want you to step forward and keep your hands where I can see them,” he continued as several of the cultists gathered in front of the Father like a wall. The Father raised his hands nonetheless, a rosary tied around his left hand.

“Here they are… The Locusts in our garden…” He calmly said, “You see, they’ve come for me. They’ve come to take me away from you. They’ve come to destroy all that we built!”

The churchgoers began shouting.

When one of the cultists reached for their gun, Whitehorse immediately did too but kept his in his holster, ”Hold on, do not touch that service weapon! Stand down! Everyone calm down!”

The Father stepped forward and put his hands on two men in front of him, making a way for him to walk through. The man who stood next to him now walked to the middle.

“We knew this moment would come. We have prepared for this…” Joseph calmly explained. Another man, with ginger hair and an army jacket joined the other man on the stage . Jacob Seed . Between the wall of cultists, Evelyn saw a smaller figure move: A young woman in a white lace dress. She was so small Evelyn could barely see her , but that face… Evelyn could never forget the face of Rachel Jessop . She, too, joined the other men on the stage.

“Go,” Joseph told his men. They all walked past Evelyn, glaring at her and making her uncomfortable.

“God will not let them take me.”

He raised his hands into the air and looked up.

“I saw when the Lamb opened the First Seal, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts say, come and see-“

“Step. Forward.” Cameron grumbled.

“And I saw, and behold it was a white horse…” he said, his eyes fixated on the Sheriff before he looked at Evelyn. A sense of dread filled her as he looked her in the eyes and said: “And Hell followed behind him. ”

Finally, he stretched his hands forward, baring his wrists so she could handcuff him.

“Evelyn- Cuff this son of a bitch,” Cameron said.

“God will not let you take me,” he said, intently looking at her like he was staring into her soul. She had met him before, but he didn’t look nearly as threatening back then as he did now.

She was sixteen at the time, and he was still promoting his entire ‘Collapse’ schtick.  She slammed the door in his face, of course , just like her father had told her to do.

All eyes were on her. She tried not to show how uncomfortable she was by keeping a stoic face as she pulled the handcuffs from her belt and put them on the Father’s wrists. Sheriff Whitehorse and Marshal Burke led her outside, but she could still feel the gaze of the other three behind her burning in her back.

Once outside, she felt like she could breathe a bit more. She saw how the cultists had closed off their exit and forced them to go the other way around – where dozens of Peggies were waiting to stop them from taking their precious Father.

If it weren’t for Sheriff Whitehorse and Joey, Evelyn would’ve panicked already.

“We gotta go,” Joey said, nervously as a pick-up truck filled with Peggies pulled up. “Keep up, Evelyn,” Earl urged. Joseph was surprisingly calm about being arrested, but it only made Evelyn suspicious. She did not trust it, not at all.

They were nearing the helicopter and Evelyn sighed in relief – too soon. Someone threw an empty can at Burke’s head and all hell broke loose. Evelyn was forced to actually push Joseph to the helicopter as Earl, Joey and Burke did their best to fend off the Peggies.

After pushing Joseph in the helicopter and entering it herself, she had to stop Peggies from climbing inside to save Joseph. As the helicopter rose, one of the Peggies seemed insistent on pulling her out and if it weren’t for Joey pulling her back and her seatbelt, they’d have succeeded. Another Peggie was clinging to Burke’s hand, the same hand that was holding a gun. Choosing either falling to his demise or shooting the Peggie, he picked the latter and fired the bullet. Evelyn watched as the Peggie fell to the ground far below.

The same couldn’t be said for the Peggies who climbed on the nose of the helicopter. One of them, in a desperate attempt to free the Father, jumped right into the rotor. Evelyn’s jaw dropped in shocked, as did everyone elses (except for Josephs) as the blood spattered on the windows.

Staci began to panic and even a child would know they were in danger, judged by how the helicopter began to spin. Evelyn tightly held on to her seat and braced for impact, fearing for her life. When the helicopter crashed against the ground, her head hit the back of her seat and for a while, she only heard a loud ringing noise.

And someone singing Amazing Grace.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she opened her eyes, but it couldn’t have been long considering she was still in the helicopter (unless they’d been left there to die.)

“Come in… This is Nancy, is everything okay? Over.”

Her sight was blurry and her head ached, but she ignored it as soon as she saw Joseph’s seat that was now vacant. And more importantly, the headset that was swinging back and forth slowly.

Then, she noticed how Burke was still passed out, and so were Earl and Staci. Slowly turning her head, she saw Joey. She had to tell Nancy to get help.

“Please, are you there?” Nancy asked.

Her muscles felt strained and she had to gather all the energy she had left to reach out to grab the headset. In the distance, she heard Amazing Grace again but this time she knew who was singing: Joseph Seed. Evelyn didn’t know where he was but she knew she had to be fast.

She shifted in her seat as best as she could, just so she could get closer to taking the headset. Her arms flailed as she tried her best. Her efforts paid off, eventually, when she managed to grab it. Just as she was about to pull it closer, the singing got louder and someone grabbed her wrist. Joseph Seed.

“… That saved a wretch like me…”

Nancy was still calling out to Earl as Joseph squeezed Evelyn’s wrist so hard she let go of the headset. She winced right before Joseph finally let go of her arm and moved his hand to her neck. Pushing her against the back of the seat, he said: “I told you God wouldn’t let you take me.”

Gritting her teeth, she clawed at his hand and nearly managed to pull him off when he removed his hand himself. “Please! I need to know what’s going on!” Nancy cried out. Joseph kept his eyes trained on her as he grabbed the headset and brought the mic to his mouth. Evelyn, visibly confused, watched as he spoke to Nancy.

“Dispatch?” he said.

“Oh… My god…” Nancy gasped.

“Everything is just fine here,” he lied, “No need to call anyone.”

Evelyn stared, her eyebrows furrowed. Clearly Nancy could tell the difference between Earl and Joseph, right?

“Yes, Father. Praise be to you.”

A shocked expression appeared on her face. Nancy. That. Fucking. Bitch. She betrayed them. Now, Evelyn could only assume she was the leak Earl was worried about, the leak who told the cult about people’s whereabouts so they were no longer safe, about each report that came in...

Joseph leaned closer and Evelyn moved further against her seat, if that was even possible.

“No one is coming to save you,” he said, before crawling out of the wreckage. She followed the Father’s movements with her eyes and heard various Peggies greet the Father. The others began to wake up as he said: “Everything is unfolding according to God’s plan. I am still here with you. The First Seal has been broken. The Collapse has begun. And we will take what we need.”

Evelyn watched as Joey struggled against the seatbelt and wanted to reach out to grab her hand as Joseph kept talking.

“We  gotta get  outta here…” Earl said, before Joseph’s voice echoed through the night: “BEGIN THE REAPING!”

A group of Peggies approached the helicopter. As Joey tried to open her seatbelt, two Peggies opened the door of the front seat to pull Staci out. Upon seeing her struggle, two other Peggies grabbed her and pulled her out. Evelyn desperately tried to pull on her leg, away from the cultists, to no avail, and was forced to watch how they dragged her away.

“We got to get out of here!” Burke yelled, still trying to open his seatbelt. Evelyn, her hands squeezing around the seatbelt to pull it open, watched as one of the cultists tried to reach her, but was blocked by a wall of fire.

Burke fell down against the roof, finally free, and ran. Evelyn glared at him as he ran into the forest but she had to think about her own escape.

“Let them burn. This is God’s will. This is their punishment,” Joseph said as Evelyn watched him through the flames.

Finally, the seatbelt opened and she fell  on the roof too.

“Woah, woah! They’re getting away!” Someone yelled as Evelyn immediately began to run. Bullets whizzed past her as she ran through the forest to shake them off. Thanks to the frequent hikes with her dad, she knew Joseph’s island like the back of her hand and knew there was an abandoned lumber mill nearby. Maybe she could hide there for a while.

She could see the wooden building through the trees, but she could also see a cultist. Instinctively, she ducked in the bushes and watched him. His back was turned towards her. She could take him by surprise, as long as she remained silent.

Evelyn crawled to a large wheel and hid behind it when she noticed a socket pipe. Useful. Taking it in her hands, she peeked around the corner. The coast was still clear.

She sneaked up on the cultist and smashed his head with the pipe. She pulled his gun from his holster and first checked to see if there were any bullets she could use for her own weapon. It was then she realized her gun was missing, probably still in the helicopter.

“Fuck it,” she groaned, putting the gun in her holster. She looked through the lumber mill and thought about hiding there again, before deciding it’d be a bad idea. There was already one cultist, that’d mean there could be more on the way.

Looking into the forest to see if it was safe to leave (which it was), she left and followed the path she had taken. The main road couldn’t be much further, maybe she could leave the County and get more help.

“Hello? Anyone hearing me? Hello?” her radio crackled and she immediately pulled it out to lower the volume, “It’s Burke, hello?”

“Burke?” she whisper-yelled, still jogging through the forest.

“Rook? I think I lost them, I see a trailer nearby, near a bridge, do you know where that is?”

“Yeah, on my way.”

“See you there.”

The bridge was on the way to the main road, luckily. And it wasn’t that far. The only problem was that the bridge was in an open area and the Peggies would see her cross the bridge from miles away. There was a path underneath but she had no energy to climb.

She decided to risk it.

In the end, she was glad she did.

There was a lit campfire but she ignored it, for now. She was focussed on finding Burke.

Walking up to the house, she pushed open the door and entered the hallway. The house was eerily quiet but she didn’t have time to dwell on it when someone jumped her. She stumbled against the wall and came face to face with Cameron Burke. She breathed heavily, calming down from the scare he’d given here.

“Evelyn, it’s you…” he gaped. “I’m sorry, I thought they got you on your way here.”

She followed him into the other room, filled with photographs of the Father and quotes carved into the wall. He leaned against a half wall and breathed out, “Jesus, I had no idea…”

“Clearly,” Evelyn grunted.

Not that he was listening to her. His eyes were drawn to a picture of the Father and his family. “Fuck,” he said, “We’re putting this whole family away. All of ‘em. Fucking lunatics.”

He took the picture off the wall and threw it on the table before walking over to a gun mounted on the wall. “We’re gonna get out of this,” he explained, “First things first, gotta arm ourselves.”

He took the gun off the wall and aimed to see how well it worked, before giving it to Evelyn. He then took a handgun and looked through the window in the door leading outside. “Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna take that road out there, follow it northeast,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder, “It’s only a couple hours to Missoula, and we’re gonna come back with the goddamn National Guard and we’re gonna take out the rest of these-“

A voice coming from outside caught his attention. Peggies.

He lifted his finger to his mouth, to tell her to stay quiet – as if she had been the one talking the entire time – and nodded his head to the window. She walked over, crouched and peeked out the window and saw two Peggies.

As soon as she heard Burke exit, she smashed the window open with her elbow and shot the two Peggies quickly.

“I got the keys to the truck! Cover me!” Burke yelled out as Evelyn saw a three Peggies run out the forest. She tried her best to shoot them but they ducked behind a tree. She tried her best to cover for Burke but eventually had to jump out the window to aim at the Peggies.

She heard Burke curse as he tried to start the car and quietly wished he’d hurry up as she shot Peggies left and right. She suddenly heard the car honk and Burke yelled: “Get in Rook!”

She instantly backed up to the truck, shooting a few more shots at the Peggies before entering the car. At the end of the road was a gate two Peggies were guarding. They were smart enough to jump out the way of the car as Burke slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. 

“You ok?” he asked as they drove over a bridge. She breathed out a ‘yeah’.

“Nice work back there,” he complimented, “I’d be dead if it weren’t for you. At least I can still trust you. Fuckin’ Nancy…”

She still couldn’t believe Nancy was the leak. Nancy, who was one of the first to console her at her father’s funeral. Nancy, who checked in on her when she lived at Sheriff Whitehorse’s house when the cult burnt down her father’s house. Nancy, who made sure Evelyn had enough to eat, after her father passed away.

“Oh no…” Burke quietly said, “They got the roads blocked!”

He zigzagged through the cars but that didn’t stop one from following them. Evelyn did her best to aim at the driver to shoot them as she dodged bullets. Just when she killed said driver, Burke announced he had to leave the road because of another roadblock and she took a deep breath.

Another car began following them and she had to force her hands to stay still as she took aim.

More cars and quads began following when Burke told her about dynamite in the back. Evelyn quickly took it, lit one and threw it behind the car. One of the cars following them blew up and crashed into a quad, leaving only one truck behind them. The car kept moving up and down, making it hard for her to aim. More trucks came out and followed them but she managed to take one out to block another.

They were driving up the hill when she heard one of the Peggies following them call out: “John’s here!”

“Holy fuck, is that a plane?!”

Looking up, it was indeed a plane, ready to fly over them.

“Don’t tell me they have fucking air support!”

The plane began shooting at them, forcing Evelyn to duck inside the car. It flew over them and she quickly took out another Peggie. They managed to drive a while further, taking out Peggies and dodging roadblocks before the plane returned, flying over them and shooting again.

This time, though, a bomb fell and barely avoided their car.

The smoke made it hard to see but thankfully, Burke managed just fine. They reached a bridge and another Peggie rode in front of them, except Evelyn couldn’t take him out in time when the plane flew over them again.

“Oh no, oh no no no, Evelyn!” Burke called out, but Evelyn was paying more attention to the sound of another bomb being dropped.

“Incoming!”

The bomb hit the road in front of them, forcing Burke to take a sharp turn. She could only watch in shock as the car drove off the bridge, heading for the water. As soon as the car broke through the surface, she blacked out.

Water was filling the car rapidly. Bullet cases were floating around and Burke was slamming his fists against the front window. But she couldn’t breathe. Her lungs were burning, she couldn’t focus…

The fucking asshole left her there to drown just to save himself.

Although thoughts were racing through her mind, she managed to remember the open window and swam through it before making it to the surface as quick as possible. The next time she opened her eyes, she was lying on the shore, her skin freezing cold.

She turned over to lie on her back and breathed heavily. The first thing on her to-do-list was to kick Burke’s ass.

“There were two in the truck!”

In the distance, she saw flashlights on the bridge. They were looking for her. For her and Burke. There was no doubt they’d find her too.

“Check the trees! Check the shorelines!”

“No! Get off! I am a United States Federal Marshal!” she heard Burke yell out and looked over to see him, surrounded by Peggies.

“This one needs a little Faith… Take him to the Pilgrimage.”

She had to move. She had to get away.

The sound of footsteps approaching her caught her attention and she thought she was done for. She saw the silhouette of a man, his gun pointed at her before he slung it back over his shoulder and picked her up.

She was being carried somewhere, she knew that. She also knew the man couldn’t have been a Peggie. Maybe she was safe. Maybe.

“My children… We must give thanks to God. The day I have prophesized to you has arrived. Everything I’ve told you has come true… The authorities who tried to take me from you are now in the loving embrace of my Family… Save for one. But this Wayward Soul will be found. They will be punished… And in the end, they will see our glorious purpose. I am your Father. You are my Children. And together, we will march to-“

When she came to, she was tied to a bed. That was the first thing she noticed. She wasn’t even on the bed and instead she found herself on the cold concrete floor. Turning her head, there was a chair in front of her and a man on the other side of the room, near a radio.

He turned around and saw she was awake. Something about him seemed familiar. Assuming she’d heard everything, he said: “You know what that shit means? It means the roads have all been closed.”

He moved to the chair and sat down. “It means the phone lines have been cut. It means there’s no signals getting in or out of this valley. But mostly, it means we’re all fucked.”

The man sighed. “The goddamn ‘Collapse’… They all think the world’s coming to an end, now. They’ve been waiting for it, for years. Waiting for somebody to come along and fulfil their prophecy. Kick off their goddamn Holy War. Well, you sure as shit kicked.”

Evelyn breathed deeply and looked away. “We were supposed to arrest him,” she said, her throat hoarse.

The man sighed and waited for a moment. “The smartest thing for me to do would just be to hand you over,” he said, making her look at him with wide eyes.

He looked at her. Then, she recognized him. Dutch. Dutch Roosevelt. She and her friend went hiking in the mountains and got lost, but lucky for them, Dutch was there and brought them home.

He seemed to recognize her as well. “Fuck…” he breathed out before standing up and pulling a knife out of his holster. He leaned down and cut through the zipties tying her hands to the bed.

“Get out of that uniform. We need to burn it,” he instructed, “I’m sure you’ll find something in the locker over there. When you get changed, you come and see me. We’ll see if we can… Un-fuck this situation.”

Dutch sighed again, but this time it felt like he was more disappointed than angry. Evelyn didn’t blame him.

Once he left the room, she pulled herself up using the bedframe and slowly made her way to the locker. Indeed, there were a few clothes. Her uniform had dried a bit but Evelyn knew it’d smell. She unbuttoned the last two buttons of her shirt and took it off and threw it on the floor. Her shirt still clung to her skin and she peeled it off before it joined her green blouse. Looking through the small ‘wardrobe’, she picked a slightly oversized flannel when the other clothes didn’t suit her tastes.

Although she wasn’t expecting any underwear, she still looked. But nothing, sadly. Maybe she could visit the Sheriff’s home to pick up some clothes. Or maybe that one shirt she left at Joey’s.

She tugged on her new pair of jeans and hoped she could at least keep her shoes. She collected her old clothes and left the room, entering a hallway with more doors. She only peeked inside a few of them to see if Dutch was there but decided not to look through his stuff. She found him in the room at the end of the hallway, talking to someone on the radio (or at least, trying to.)

“Hey Evelyn,” he said once he noticed her, “We need to talk.”

“I ain’t seen you since you were, what? Thirteen? I’ve been trying to piece together what’s happening up top… It ain’t good. All I know is that your partners are alive… For now. Seems they’ve been split up, each one handed off to a different member of Joseph’s ‘family’. I know you want them back, but you were the only help we had. Nobody knows what’s going on anymore and they won’t know until it’s too late. There’s people out there, willing to fight back against this cult. We just  need to show ‘ em how, we need to build a resistance. Help me get control of the island. Once we have more room to breathe, we can think about the other regions. You’ll find a gun and a rifle, and a map in that safe over there. Take ‘ em . I’ll give you a call on your radio once you get out of here.”

Evelyn quietly nodded and muttered: “Thanks.”

Dutch gave her a slight nod as well and turned around but Evelyn stopped him, “And I was fourteen, not thirteen.”

He dryly chuckled.

She walked over to the safe that was open and took the map first. She knew most of the County by heart but still, it wouldn’t hurt to have a map with her. Then, she took the handgun and put it in her empty holster. She looked at the rifle and smiled at the sight of a scope.

“Uh, where’s the exit?”

“To the right here, keep going then right again,” Dutch explained, a small smile on his face.

Evelyn awkwardly smiled back, “Thanks. I’ll uh… Hear from you?”

“Definitely.”

The sun blinded her as she opened the door of the bunker. How long was she out? If she had to guess, she’d say it was nearly noon.

Her radio crackled. She took it off her belt and heard Dutch say: “I’ve got cameras set up all over this island. I’ll keep an eye out for anything useful. For now, you head south. There’s a radio tower I need you to turn on. Help anyone you might find along the way, hell, take over outposts if you can. Dutch out.”

And that’s what she did.

After saving three strangers, taking over two outposts, destroying two shrines and finding an abandoned prepper stash, she finally arrived at the radio tower. It was extremely high up and although Evelyn would be scared of falling off, that didn’t mean she didn’t miss the sky. It’s been months since she last flew a plane.

Hesitantly, she stepped towards the ladder and took a deep breath. Well, there was no turning back…

And she began to climb.

“I know what you’re thinkin’ and no, I ain’t gonna have you climbin’ towers all over the county for me, so don’t worry… Also, try not to fall from up there…”

She laughed to herself as she climbed another ladder before reaching the top. There, she pulled down the lever to activate the antenna. She then turned around and looked at Hope County. Although it was foggy, it still looked as beautiful as ever.

“Evelyn?”

She took her radio and put it to her ear.

“I’m getting a strong signal now… Come back to the bunker, alright? I’ll explain everything else you need to know.”

“Aaaand you couldn’t tell me before I left?”

“No. Now come here.”

Rolling her eyes, she looked back to the ladder, before her eyes flicked to the zipline. The handle at the top was calling for her. She clearly had no other option!

As she walked back to Dutch’s bunker, she felt like she could do this. She could save Hope County, save her friends, save Joey. Maybe it’s possible.

Dutch was in the small living room he had set up, a map on the table in front of the couch. “There you are, kid,” he greeted, “Come here, I’ll introduce you to the new Hope County.”

“Has it changed that much?” Evelyn asked, “Except for the cult shit, I guess.”

“Oh, trust me, you’d be surprised.”

Evelyn sat down next to him. Dutch put his finger on the Whitetail Mountains area.

“This belongs to Jacob Seed now. He’s the oldest brother, trains the cult’s militia. You’ll hear all kinds of stories, but the point is… He tortures people.”

“It won’t be easy to arrest any of them, huh?” Evelyn sighed, frowning. Dutch nodded, “All I’m saying is… It might come to killing them, but it’s necessary.”

She looked a t him for a moment before quietly saying: “Go on.”

His finger moved to Henbane River. “This belongs to-“

“Rachel Jessop,” Evelyn sighs, “I went to high school with her,  she’s… Three years younger, I think .”

“She goes by the name of Faith Seed now. She’s in charge of the Bliss. You of all people shouldn’t fall for her sob story… Stay clear of any bliss crops you see, it messes with your mind.”

“What are… ‘bliss crops’?”

“They’re flowers, make you hallucinate. Stay in it for too long, you turn into one of them angels. I’m sure you’ll meet them soon enough.”

His finger then moved to Holland Valley.

“And this is John Seed’s region. You already know how sadistic the other ones are, well this one’s the worst. You’ve seen the corpses on the street. He’s in charge of ‘recruiting’ and cleansing people. He forces people to confess their sins, tortures them… Then they join the cult, if they survive. He has an obsession with the word ‘yes’. If you deal with all of them, you’ll lure Joseph out of hiding. No one knows where he is so this is pretty much the only way.”

“Great,” Evelyn huffed, “And how am I supposed to do this on my own?”

“There’s people out there willing to help,” Dutch said, “You’ll find them all over the county.”

“And… How do I know who’s where? Like… How do I know where Joey is…?”

“Does that matter? You’re gonna want to save all of ‘em.”

The tv in front of them, that once showed static, now started playing a video that immediately caught their attention.

“The fuck…” Dutch muttered under his breath, turning up the volume. Cheerful music started playing as John Seed appeared on screen. It looked like a commercial for their damn cult. 

“We are all sinners. Every one of us. You. Me. Even The Father knows deeply of sin. It’s a poison that clouds our minds,” he said. He appeared to be in an open area, replicating a church. He walked over a red carpet as the camera changed position, “What if I told you, you could be free from sin? What if I told you that everything you ever dreamed could come true? What if I told you that everything could be overcome if you embraced an idea.”

The camera changed again, but this time Evelyn saw someone familiar in the corner of the screen. Joey. Her jaw dropped as she shifted closer to the tv. 

“That freedom from sin can come from the power of just one word…”

“YES.”

Joey was led to John and Evelyn took in all the details. Bags under her eyes. Tears. Mouth taped shut. Bloodshot eyes. What did that asshole put her through in only a few hours?

“Yes, I am a sinner. Yes, I wish to be unburdened,” he said, putting his hands on Joey which made her flinch, before his hand moved to Joey’s neck, “Yes, I must be redeemed… If you’re watching this, know that you have been selected. You will be cleansed. You will confess your sins, and you will be offered atonement.”

Evelyn wanted to wipe that smug smirk off his face.

“Don’t worry,” he continued, “You don’t have to do anything. We’ll come for you. Welcome to Eden’s Gate.”

With that, the video ended.

“Fuck,” Dutch cursed, “She’s in a world of shit, kid, you gotta get goin’. Give me your map, I’ll mark a few locations.”

Evelyn gave him her map which he unfolded over the other one. He pulled out a marker and put three crosses on the map, one in each region. “If you go to Holland Valley, go to Fall’s End first, they really need your help and they’ll be good friends to have. In Henbane River, Hope County Jail could use your help. As for the Mountains… I haven’t heard from my niece, Jess in a while, check up on her and she might be your way in with the Whitetail Militia.”

He gave the map back to her and she looked at it one last time. “I’ll stay in contact with you. What matters now is that you save the people first, and they’ll help you save your friends,” Dutch promised.

Evelyn stayed quiet but nodded nonetheless as she stood up.

“Good luck, kid.”


	2. The Cleansing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the arrest went wrong and Evelyn was saved by Dutch Roosevelt, she sets foot in Holland Valley to help the Resistance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited (18/03)

The  McDaniels were well-known in Holland Valley. They were the perfect nuclear family. Stephen McDaniel, who was Earl’s partner at the Sheriff’s office, married his girlfriend from high school, Mary Lewis when they turned twenty-four. A year later, their son Jamie was born and five years later, Evelyn was born. Despite both being amazing students, they were very different. Jamie was more interested in science and math. Teachers expected Evelyn to be the same but were very surprised when she was more into sports. Then, two years after Jamie graduated high school, he moved to the UK for university. 

So, the perfect family.

Except, not long after Jamie left, the Project at Eden’s Gate arrived in Hope County. Stephen was very clear on what to do when Joseph Seed knocked on the front door: slam it in his face and lock it. Evelyn followed his instructions; she didn’t buy into the ‘collapse’ schtick. Evelyn assumed her mother, who was a very empathetic woman, listened to Joseph’s story and joined the fucking cult. At first, she blamed herself since she came out of the closet only a few months before that, but after a while she realized that it was the cult’s fault.

She hadn’t seen her mother since and just like her father, assumed the worst, at first.

Her father was moving on from her disappearance. Last time Evelyn saw him alive, he was happy. He was himself again.

She wasn’t prepared to see his dead body next time she came home. She  lived in Helena, Montana, ever since she turned twenty, but still went back to Hope County every so often , for her father . The entire thing was suspicious, and her godfather, Earl, agreed. But there was nothing they could do.

She and her brother stayed at the old house until the funeral. Jamie left the same day as the funeral, but Evelyn planned on staying longer.  She wanted to make sure everything was taken care of, like bills and such , and  thinking if she was going to sell the house or not.

In the end, she wouldn’t have to. When Earl took her home from the funeral, both were surprised to see the house was on fire. The fire department blamed it on faulty wiring, but Evelyn didn’t believe it.

After that, she took a good look at her father’s badge (Earl gave it to her at the funeral, said she deserved it. He gave Jamie  the sh irt that came with the uniform. ) and went back to Helena. Not to her job at the local airport, but to Montana’s Law Enforcement Academy.

When she turned twenty-six, she returned to Hope County and got a job as Junior Deputy.

Several months had passed and she still lived with Earl Whitehorse, despite the fact that he was her boss. She didn’t exactly  have a choice. All the houses were bought by Eden’s Gate.

But now… Holland Valley felt like new territory. As if she had never been there before . Despite that, she still knew her way around the Valley.

When she set foot in the Valley again, the first time since Dutch saved her, she knew she had a long way to go. Fall’s End was  in the south and two-thousand miles away. As Junior Deputy, she was legally allowed to borrow a citizen’s car, but it felt wrong. So, instead, she walked.

The first location she passed was Gardenview Orchards. She, Jamie and her mother would go there every summer for apples. But she didn’t think about that now. She focussed on the pair of  Peggies , near a pick-up  truck. Now, she was a deputy and had to follow the law, but she didn’t give a shit about  Peggies and was definitely going to take that pick-up truck.

Evelyn did know they were going to shoot her on sight and take her to Joseph .

Giving them the benefit of the doubt, she calmly made her way to the two Peggies, her hand on her handgun in case things got out of hand.

Which they did, of course.

Killing them was easy, and Evelyn knew she was  going to be doing a lot of paperwork after all this. Not that she  cared. She had  people  to sav e .

The key was  still in the ignition and she was glad she wouldn’t have to search their bodies. Maybe the Peggie pickup truck would also help her hide from other Peggies.

Now she’d get to Fall’s End sooner, too.

Holland Valley looked as beautiful as ever, if she ignored the dead bodies and billboards filled with threats (“We will take you.” Real charming, John.) .  It was hard to believe that  decades ago, she could walk around the Valley safely  and now, they’d kidnap her to join their Doomsday cult.

She kept her eyes on the road, but that didn’t stop her from seeing  Peggies at Rae Rae’s Pumpkin farm. At  first she wanted to ignore it, but she saw a cage and movement inside said cage and knew she had to see what was going on.

She knew  Rae-Rae had a dog, Boomer, and the cage definitely wasn’t a good sign.

She parked the car at the beginning of the driveway and left it there. Three Peggies. Seemed easy enough. Using her sniper rifle, she took care of them quickly, taking advantage of the startled state the Peggies were in and approached the dog in the cage. Boomer.

Boomer whined , pawing at the door of the cage. Evelyn pouted and  tried to touch his paws, “Poor boy… Hmm let me see.”

The key was definitely on one of the Peggies’ bodies. Bodies she’d prefer not to touch. So, instead, she opted to smash the handle of her handgun against the weak loc k .  At last, the lock broke and she was able to open the cage. Boomer immediately ran out and jumped into her arms,  licking her face excitedly.

Evelyn laughed, “ Oh, someone’s happy!”

Boomer walked past her, past the Peggies, and to a couple of dead bodies lying near Rae Rae’s house. Rae Rae and  Russel, she assumed.  He sat down next to them and whined again.

She wasn’t sure what to do. She was already bad at consoling humans, she wouldn’t know where to begin with a dog. Walking over to him, she knelt down next to the canine and  pet his back. Boomer turned his head and stared at her , then nudged his nose against her knee. She smiled at him, albeit a small one, and stood up.

Evelyn wasn’t sure of what to do. She couldn’t just leave the poor dog here . Boomer seemed to think the same thing when he followed Evelyn to the house. She didn’t think much of it at first as she made sure there was enough food and water left, but  t hen he followed her to  her pick-up truck .

“Hey boy,” she chuckled, confused, “ Wanna save the county with me? ”

Boomer yipped. Evelyn opened the door and said: “Alright, get in.”

The dog jumped into the car and sat down in the passenger seat , his head already out the window. Evelyn  shook her head at his antics and climbed into the driver’s seat. If she  was being honest, having a companion with her already made her feel a lot better.

The  ‘Welcome to Fall’s End ’ sign came into view after half an hour of driving – and breaking several speed laws \- and Evelyn let out a sigh of relief. She knew Mary May, not well but they were  acquaintances . She had also heard what happened to her family. Mother dead, father in an accident, her brother suffered the same fate not long after… It was easy for Evelyn to understand.

She parked the pick-up truck on  the side of the road, still a fair distance away from the town , and  stepped out, Boomer joining her side.

From where she was standing, she could already see a few Peggies. Not many, but sh e knew there’d be more.

As she walked up to the town, she tried to figure out a plan on how to take them out as quietly as possible. It’d be hard, considering they seemed to be paired off into duos, and her sniper rifle was definitely going to get unwanted attention.

She feared she might not have another choice.

Evelyn managed to take out two of them, standing nearby another two who were  taunting Mary May. The sound of gunfire startled the nearby Peggies, and the others in the distance near the church too, of course.  She used that to her advantage and managed to critically wound the other two.

She quickly ran towards Mary May and nearly didn’t notice Boomer race off to an approaching Peggie. Evelyn untied Mary May, who thanked her immediately as Boomer ran up to them, a gun in his mouth. In the distance, she saw a n unarmed Peggie.

“Good boy,” she laughed as Mary May took the gun and joined her in the fight against the Peggies. Taking care of the remaining Peggies was easy. Evelyn managed to untie the last remaining people, including Pastor Jerome .

What wasn’t easy, was the plane flying over the town, ready to attack.

“Gonna strafe these sinners!” she heard the pilot yell over the radio of a dead Peggie.

“Quick, there’s a machine gun on the roof of the garage!” Pastor Jerome said, patting Evelyn’s back before he helped someone else stand up.

Evelyn wasted no time running to the garage . The sound of the plane only made her more nervous as she tried to find a way to the roof. Eventually she ended up behind the garage where she found a ladder.

She only hoped she was a better shot than the Peggies.

Apparently, she was. The Peggie missed all his shots, maybe only landing one close one but she definitely didn’t get hurt.

She only hoped the p lane didn’t  crash into any house.

The Spread Eagle remained the same . Then again, cult or no cult, the Spread Eagle always remained the same for years.

She had  never seen it so empty though. Pastor Jerome was pacing around,  reading from his bible. The chef was already working in the kitchen… Evelyn walked further into the bar,  staring at  nothing in particular when Pastor Jerome noticed her. He gave her a smile and walked over to her, hand raised for her to shake it, which she did.

“I don’t claim to know God’s plan, but I know  a good thing when I see it,” he  said, letting go of her hand, “ You’re getting quite a reputation as the ‘rogue deputy’. You’re the first good thing to happen to  this Valley in a long time.”

“Really?” Evelyn grunted, “ They already got all my colleagues ,  why do they want me too?”

Pastor Jerome sighed.

“A little help?” came a muffled voice from the staircase. They both turned their heads to see Mary May walking down the stairs, carrying more boxes than she could handle.

“Are you trying to break your neck?” Jerome scolded, taking quick steps towards her and taking one of the boxes. “It seemed like a good idea at the time!” Mary May replied as Pastor Jerome moved past Evelyn to the bar while she took a box too, freeing Mary May from her struggle.

“Oh shit,” she breathed out once she saw Evelyn, “Sorry, didn’t know it was you. All you’ve done... Might as well add ‘mover’ to the list.”

“Don’t, this is a one-time thing,”  she chuckled in response.

Evelyn set down the wooden crate on the bar as Jerome rummaged through the other one .  “I thought Eden’s Gate confiscated all of this.” he muttered.

Mary May turned on the light and gave him a look of disbelief, “What kind of Fairgrave would I be if I didn’t have a hidden stash?”

Pastor Jerome snickered as Evelyn noticed Mary May’s eyes fall onto a picture of who she assumed were her father and brother. She picked it up and moved away to hang it on a wall as  Pastor Jerome said: “This town, it’s been through a lot, Evelyn . We owe you thanks but-”

Mary May quickly interrupted him, walking up to them with three tin  mugs .

“I’m sure you’re looking for your people ,” she said,  “But you ain’t the  only one in need of  help. Pastor and I can only do so much .”

“if you can see  about lending a hand, we’ll  be sure to return the favor ,” said Pastor Jerome , pouring  whiskey in the tin mugs .

“Whaddya say?” he asked, offering  her one of the mugs.  Sighing, she took it and raised it, “ How can I deny  an offer like that?”

Mary May snickered and they raised  their mugs as well , before drinking  from it. Evelyn  coughed.  It’s been a while since she had any  alcohol, and even then, it was just a beer. Mary May shook  her head as Jerome  whistled.

“Mary will get you squared away,” he said,  moving closer, “ When  you get the  chance,  come by the  church. I’ll be there .”

“Yeah, maybe some  other time,” Mary May said  once Pastor Jerome was gone, “ It’s too late now.”

“Of course,” Evelyn smiled, “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

She was surprised at how quickly the sun had gone down. She hoped the Peggie pickup truck  was still where she left it , because she  definitely doesn’t want to walk home.

“Brothers and sisters ,” a voice  said over her radio.  Over the public channel.

Evelyn quickly  recognized the voice as  John’s.

“Someone out there is not  playing by the rules . Someone is taking from us.  Stealing what  rightfully belongs to  the  Father .  They are a murderer,  and a coward . But God  sees them...  and God will guide  us to them . They will be found and they will be punished . This is the will  of the Father .”

Rolling her eyes and gritting her teeth ,  she pulled her radio from her belt and pressed the ‘ talk’ button .

“God’s gonna guide my  fist to your fucking face,”  she growled,  “ I’m gonna save  this county, even if  it’s the last thing  I’ll do.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, she  regretted them.  But she couldn’t back down now.

“Ooh,” John  hissed, “Let’s see  if your dear friend Hudson agrees .”

Then, silence.

“No. No  no NO.”

Joey’s screamed filled her ears as her eyes widened with horror. “No,” Evelyn gasped, “Leave her alone, you fuck!”

Then, silence.

Breathing heavily, she considered storming wherever John was keeping Joey and killing every Peggie In her way, but she knew she had to calm down.

Looking in the distance, the giant ‘YES’ billboard caught her attention. Biting her lip, she changed to Dutch’s channel and pressed the talk button. “Hey, Dutch?” she said, her words sounding harsher than she initially meant.

“Hey kid!” he greeted, “Heard you saved Fall’s End, and... John.”

“Sure, whatever. Anyway... How many people want the giant YES sign gone?”

Dutch laughed, “Oh, trust me, everyone wants that shit gone. Why?”

“Why not do the people of Hope County a  favor and get rid of it?”

You’re  gonna need a plane though. I suggest heading to Rye and Sons Aviation when you get the chance. But you should really get some sleep, now.”

“Oh I will, and  I’ll dream about  destroying that sign,” she joked .

Boomer nudged against her knee as she put her radio back on her belt and she sighed, “Hey boy... Wanna come home with me?”

Boomer whined and tapped his paws against the pavement.

She looked at the Peggie car in the distance and sighed, “Let’s go, boy.”

For a moment, she felt like she  was going through a  déjà  vû as she drove to the  Sheriff’s house. Heading  home.

Last time she was heading home, it ended up being  on fire.

John’s threat definitely didn’t sit well with  her either.  Evelyn mentally scolded herself .  She needed to start thinking  before she said shit like that . Joey could be dead  and it’d be her  fault . Looking at the YES sign as she got out of  the car,  she decided that maybe  she should be  more careful.

But God, she wanted  that sign gone.

First, she needed a plane.

Boomer ran past her as she opened the front door of Earl’s house. It had always felt like a warm and welcoming place but now...  It was cold and empty .

Still standing in the hallway, she turned the  lights on as Boomer sniffed  around, inspecting the entire house. Closing the door behind her, Evelyn then walked to the living room where Boomer already made himself at home on the couch.

There was barely any room for her but when her stomach rumbled, she knew she wouldn’t get to sit down just yet .

“I don’t think  Uncle Earl has  any dogfood but ... Can dogs eat  hamburgers?” she thought out  loud, and the dog perked  up at the suggestion ,  “God, I hope so .”

Sleep wouldn’t come for a while.  She and Boomer ate dinner  (or well , lunch and dinner) and played for a bit, but since Hope County was locked from the rest of the world, there was nothing on TV except for the stupid cult commercials.

But even though Evelyn was exhausted, it was hard for her to fall asleep. She was worried sick about Joey, about Earl, about Staci... Hell, even Burke. She had to save them. She had to save Hope County

Evelyn didn’t know when she fell asleep, but it was nearly nine AM when she woke up and for her, that was too late. She jumped out of bed, startling Boomer who was sleeping next to her.  She opened her closet, took some fresh clothes and ran to the bathroom as if it were a matter of life and death, all whilst Boomer was still confused.

After washing, getting dressed and brushing her teeth, she thought about Fall’s End, and Rye and Sons Aviation. She knew that name very well. Nick Rye’s father taught her how to fly a plane, it’s how she got her license. 

Boomer followed her into the kitchen and she groaned. “Oh man, I hope that store in Fall’s End has food for you... Maybe Mary May can watch you while I go to Rye and Sons,” she murmured, kneeling down and scratching Boomer’s neck. She really didn’t  want  Boomer to die to the  Peggies.

Evelyn stood up again , Boomer following her with his eyes . “Alright, time to go, buddy.”

Boomer followed her to the truck still waiting outside , only to be confused when she walked to the grey car parked on the driveway.

“Come on,” she chuckled, tapping her leg to beckon him closer.

Fall’s End had changed a lot. Evelyn blamed it on the two burnt down buildings, one of them being the old Sheriff’s office. During the time she spent in Hope County, ever since her father died, she only saw fire. And it was fuelling her. Fuelling her anger. Something had to be done.

Mary May greeted her as she entered the Spread Eagle, throwing down the rag she was using to clean the bar and leaning against it. “Welcome back, Evelyn,” she smiled, “Glad you’re here.”

“Glad I can help,” Evelyn shrugged, stuffing her hands in the pockets of her bomber jacket, “Heard something about Rye’s place.”

“Yeah, they’ve been trying to steal Nick’s plane. His wife’s pregnant and the stress from the cult definitely ain’t helpin’. Go check on them, would ya?” huffed Mary May.

Nodding her head, Evelyn leaned against the bar, “Will do. Oh, one more thing!”

“Can Boomer stay here? Until I’m back? I don’t want him to be shot by one of those assholes,” she pleaded.

Mary May blinked. “Uh, sure. He can stay here, I’m sure he’ll gain us some customers.”

So, reassured that Boomer was safe, she left the bar.

Nick Rye lived close to Fall’s End. It’s been ages since Evelyn last saw him, exactly a decade. They got along pretty well, so it was safe to say she was looking forward to seeing him again. He’d definitely help her get to a plane.

The driveway to Rye and Son’s Aviation came into view. And so did something else. Carmina, Nick’s plane, soaring through the sky. Either Nick was flying, or the Peggies successfully took it from him. Evelyn suspected the latter.

She parked her car on the parking of the small airport and immediately saw a helicopter with an Eden’s Gate logo explode. Definitely Nick’s doing.

Evelyn nearly didn’t spot the Peggies hiding in the bushes and almost revealed herself, but managed to stay hidden when she did notice them. Inhaling quietly, she sneaked up on one of them and snapped his neck.

The Peggie next to him heard him cry out but didn’t get the chance to call for help when Evelyn slammed his head against the tree he was hiding behind.

There was more shouting, mainly because of the fire the exploded  helicopter had caused. Using that to her advantage, Evelyn fired bullet after bullet with her handgun, through the smoke. Some definitely didn ’t hit, but others did.

The fire died down on itself, luckily, and even took down one Peggie.  Evelyn and Nick took care of the rest.

“Shit, shit shit!” Nick cursed, throwing his trucker hat on the  ground , “They took Carmina!

“They took my plane, the  Peggies took my goddamn plane!” he cried. Evelyn squeezed his shoulder, “Hey, Nick, calm down! Do you know where they’re taking it?”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry…” he sniffed, “Those fuckers must’ve taken it to John Seed’s ranch. It ain’t far from here, but it’s swarmed with Peggies.”

“Not a problem,” Evelyn dryly chuckled, “ I’ll get… ‘Carmina’… Back safe.”

“Thanks, Evelyn,” he sighed, rubbing his face and nearly knocking his sunglasses off, “You’re one of the few people I trust with that plane- You still have your license right…? ”

“I’ve never left my plane ever since I got my license,” she promised, “Well, it’s been a while but Carmina will be safe with me, don’t worry. Where’s that asshole’s ranch anyway?”

“Not far from here, follow the road until you see another airstrip,” he explained, “And feel free to threaten him like you did yesterday.”

“Speaking of yesterday,” Evelyn’s eyes widened, realizing she forgot to ask something, “ Can I borrow Carmina to blow up that YES billboard?”

Nick immediately smiled and began to laugh, “No shit, Evelyn, of course you can borrow Carmina. You gotta get her back first, though.”

“I will,” Evelyn smiled,  “Uh… Can you watch my car until I’m back?”

The ‘directions’ Nick gave her were surprisingly accurate. Even if she didn’t have that, the miniature version of the YES billboard gave it away. Now, she wasn’t  expecting to just  walk up the driveway and kindly ask for the plane. She was going to scout the area and sneak in. Then, she’d just… Fly away and hope the Peggies don’t shoot anything vital.

Scouting the area was hard, considering it was surrounded with trees and one wrong step could alert them , just because she stepped on a twig. She had to be smart and sneaky.  The first thing she noticed was that Nick’s bright yellow Carmina wasn’t outside, definitely – if it was at the ranch to begin with – but there was a  hangar.

She had to get inside.

Easier said than done, however. There were  Peggies in every corner, downstairs, upstairs, hell, even in a tower near the hangar. Luckily, there was tall grass and boxes she could hide behind. Maybe she’d be able to leave without too many casualties.

The back entrance to the ranch wasn’t protected. At all.

One look inside showed her a Peggie upstair s, scratching his ass. She didn’t want to risk going up the stairs and making a sound but so far, it was  the only way she could continue.

She carefully sneaked up the stairs, the other guy still not facing her. Good, she thought, and jumped up to snap his neck.

There was a door next to her, leading to a balcony. Only one Peggie in sight. A sniper. Easy to take out.

She was happy to find out the sniper rifle had a  suppressor . She used it to take out the sniper on the tower on the hangar and then looked around to see if there were more Peggies. None. And a door, leading to the hangar. She carefully jumped down, biting down  on her lip to stop herself from making a noise. Around the corner there were two more Peggies, with their backs turned to her.

She quickly entered the hangar.

It was completely empty, except for Carmina. How was she going to open the gate without alerting Peggies, though? She quickly ignored that thought. If the door wasn’t going to alert them, the plane flying away definitely would.

There was a  yellow  switch next to the gate with two buttons. Green and red.  She calculated her options and made her way to said switch, where she pressed the green button before bolting it to the plane. She quickly opened the door and jumped in, starting the plane as the gate opened.

As soon as the gate was open, just enough to let the plane out, she rode onto the airstrip as the Peggies began to shout. Evelyn waved at them as they ran to wards her, before riding down the airstrip.

The plane rose into the air as her radio crackled to life.

“Yo, is that you flying my plane?”

“Sure is,” Evelyn grinned .

Nick cheered, loudly. “Nice! Can you dip the left wing? I need to make sure the Peggies didn’t fuck with it.”

She turned the plane, swinging left as the plane rotated slightly.  “Looks good,” she noted.

“ Nice!” said Nick, “Oh man, without that plane, Kim ‘n I would’ve  been hopeless. That plane’s our only ticket out of here.”

“You’re leaving?” Evelyn  asked, eyebrows  knitted in a frown, “ Nick, you’ve lived here your entire life! Your entire family has lived here forever!”

“Yeah, yeah,” he sighed, “ But I have a baby to think about. I can’t let that kid grow up in a place like this, with the cult and shit.”

She flew over the river at the borders of Hope County as she continued her conversation.  “Nick, please,” she pleaded, “Just… Wait. My friends and I, we’re gonna stop that fucking dickbag, alright? ”

For a while, there was only silence , and she knew Nick was thinking.

“Anyway,  you’re about to fly over some Bliss tankers. Can you blow them up while you’re at it?”

Looking down, she noticed fields. Looking at the screen that showed her the view of her bombs, she noticed a tanker. With the press of a button, the bomb released and exploded the tanker. Evelyn couldn’t help but smile.

“Did that work? Did you blow it up?” Nick asked.

“Yup!” she laughed.

“Great!” he cheered, “If you go west for a bit, you’ll see planes. Take ‘em down before they get in the air.”

“Say no more.” Evelyn whispered to herself, looking through the camera again.

Blowing up the airplanes was easy.

“Yes!” Nick laughed, “Alright, come back to the hangar. I’ll meet you there.”

Evelyn wanted to stay in the air for a bit longer. She missed it, but this wasn’t her plane. Her plane was still in Helena, taking up space back in the airport. She definitely couldn’t afford a new one.

Nick was standing inside the hangar he seemed t o use as a hangout, waving his arms as she drove the plane up to him. Walking up to her, Nick opened the door and let her out. “ Thank you, Evelyn,” he gleefully said, “Help me turn this beast around, would ya?”

He walked over to the right of the plane and pushed against the wheels as Evelyn pulled.

“Hey Kim!” Nick yelled, “Carmina’s back!”

“Yeah,” someone yelled from the house, “I heard!”

Nick yelled at Kim to come over , but after two more attempts, she didn’t come.

“Nick!”

“Kim, just get over here,” Nick groaned, inspecting his plane to make sure the Peggies hadn’t done anything to it.

“ _ Nick _ !”

“What?!”

“The Peggies are coming!”

Cursing under his breath, Nick turned to Evelyn, “Yo, I’m better in the air but you’re  an even better shot on the ground, whaddya say?”

Offering his fist, Evelyn fist bumped him and stepped away as he  started his plane. She then walked over to one of the dead Peggies and picked up her assault rifle.

Spotting a Peggie car driving towards the house, she ran as fast as she could. Hitting a moving target was hard but Evelyn tried nonetheless, to no avail.  She managed to shoot the driver when he parked in front of the house, startling his companion. His companion had no time to react, though, due to the bullet between her eyes… And chest… And basically everywhere.

Shouting came from the house – Kim. Running inside, there was a Peggie downstairs and with a thousand thoughts running through her head, she automatically  pulled the Peggie against her, her arm around his neck making it impossible for him to breathe. He tried pulling her off but she was stronger, and eventually the Peggie stopped fighting.

She let him fall to the ground and looked around for Kim when she heard a noise from upstairs. There, she found a Peggie trying to kick open the door. He heard her come up and turned around but she was quicker. She jumped on him, making him fall to the ground and bashed his head in with the butt of her  rifle.

“Nick? Is that you?” came a voice from behind the door.

“Uh, no,” Evelyn breathed out, standing up, “I’m Evelyn. At your service. Stay in there, okay? I’ll defend the house.”

“Thank you!”

She hurried down the stairs, narrowly avoiding a bullet flying through the window. She cursed under her breath and ducked beneath the window, only pe e king out to shoot. Then, the shooting stopped.

“Dep?” Nick said, “They’re attacking the hangar!”

“I was beginning to wonder where they’d gone,” she sighed,  standing up from her spot.  She left the house, hoping Kim would be fine and ran to the hangar. The door near the back was open . She arrived just in time to see Peggies trying to enter, probably to shoot up the place. She shot quickly, without thinking. “Watch out for the sniper’s on the roof , I’m gonna light ‘em up!” Nick warned . Sure enough, in the distance, she saw Peggies on the roof. Well, she didn’t really see them, considering the red light of their rifles were nearly blinding her. She ducked behind a crate just as two bullets hit the ground behind her .

Nick quickly took care of the snipers as a quad with two  Peggies drove onto the airstrip. They, stupidly enough, stopped whilst facing her, allowing her to shoot them at the same time. Two pickup trucks, with machine guns in the truck beds, appeared and Evelyn could see all the bullets pass her by. “Fuck,” said Nick, “Hang on, gonna drop a bomb on those fuckers.”

A loud explosion went off behind her. Peeking over the box she was hiding behind, she saw the charred remains of the cars and several Peggies.

That seemed to be the end of it.

Nick landed his plane near one of the hangars next to the airstrip and paid Evelyn no mind as he ran to the house. Evelyn was quick to follow. Inside, Kim was waiting in the living room , several suitcases by her side.

“Nick,” she sighed, “Are you sure-“

She didn’t have time to finish her sentence . “We need to go,” Nick interrupted, puttin g two suitcases closer to the door. He walked back to his wife and picked up another one, all while she tried to stop him.

“Nick, you grew up here , your grandfather built this place ! You really want to give that up? ” Kim  sighed, her eyebrows raised in worry. Nick pushed a suitcase into Evelyn’s hands which she nearly dropped. Kim quickly took it back .

“Nick, stop!” she snapped and Nick finally listened , “ How many times have you talked about handing down the business to our daughter? ”

“No, I talked about handing it down to our son-“

“Nick.”

“Oh come on, you know  them pictures are  unreliable ,” Nick said, looking at Evelyn for support. Instead, she shrugged.

“Nick,” Kim softly breathed out.

Finally, Nick relented, “You’re right.”

His hands moved to the sides of Kim’s stomach, ca r essing her pregnant stomach. Kim smiled at him and covered his hands with her. “I love you,” he quietly said .

“Me too,” his wife replied.

Nick walked back to the door and picked up the suitcases again. “Well, Dep, looks like the Rye family is stayin’,” he said, “Hey, if you ever need air support, gi m me a  holler , alright? You an’ me will be like Butch and Sundance.”

“Nick…” Kim frowned, “They both died at the end.”

Putting the suitcases back down, Nick looked at her for a moment and shook his head, “Nah…”

Sighing, Kim took Evelyn’s hand and pleaded: “Please take care of him.”

Chuckling, Evelyn nodded: “Of course. Uh, I’ll be leaving now. Nick, I’ll call ya when I need a plane.”

“ Don’t hesitate, Dep ,” Nick assured, “Now, let’s unpack these suitcases.”

She gave Kim and Nick one last smile before leaving the house.  Looking at the hangar, she hoped her car didn’t blow up in the parking lot, with all the explosions. Th e airstrip was full of exploded cars and helicopters, but her car seemed to be just fine, which she was grateful for.

Before entering her car, she  took her radio to tell Dutch about what she’d done. She wouldn’t get the chance, since it already crackled to life.

“Sin is pervasive,” John said, “It drives us to do unspeakable acts.”

Evelyn instinctively rolled her eyes and put her head in her free hand.

“I know the feelings that drive you, I know them… Intimately. But I can help you, Deputy. I can wash  away these sins. I can Cleanse your soul. It will be difficult and it will be painful, but… It will be  worth it. My people will come for you. They will bring you to me . Don’t fight it. Because the harder you resist, well… The harder we’ll have to scrub your soul. ”

She groaned and was ready to give him a taste of his own medicine, but decided against it when Joey came to mind. She was prepared to tell John how he’d have to wash away the blood when she’d be done with him. How painful her foot up his ass would be. But she couldn’t be reckless, not now.

“Holy shit, kid,” Dutch said through the radio, “You’ve pissed in John’s cornflakes . He’s going to be throwing all he’s got after you.  So k eep  your head on a swivel. Dutch out.”

She sighed and leaned against the door. She really had it coming now.

A car stopped nearby, somewhere behind the trees. Evelyn wouldn’t have thought anything of it, at first, but then she heard them speak. “Where ya hidin’, darlin’?”  someone tauntingly yelled. Peggies.

“You know we’ll find you!” another Peggie joined in.

The first thing that  came to mind was to hide. There was a  makeshift wall of wood surrounding the parking she could use.  Running quickly, she jumped behind it and only peaked out to see  where the Peggies were. Looking back at the sniper rifle on her back, she could take them out…

Biting her lip, she pulled it off her back and  aimed. Two Peggies, seemed easy enough. Taking them out was even easier.

Taking out the Peggie behind her wasn’t easy, though.

Something hit her right hip. Evelyn gasped as a burning sensation grew in her leg . At the same time, she could feel herself growing numb as her sight grew hazy.  Tiredness took over as she fell on her back. She could on ly make out the vague shape of a Peggie standing next to her before everything faded to black.

She didn’t know what time it was when she woke up, but it was late. The  sky had gone dark and night had come.  Two Peggies were heading her way and as much as she tried to move, she found herself unable to. “This one?” said one of the Peggies, leaning over a body lying next to her. “No, this one,” the other Peggie said, leaning down  over her.

“Doesn’t seem very worthy to me,” hu ffed the first one , moving to her legs.

“It is not for us to judge. Deliver them onto the waters , the Cleansing begins tonight.”

The first Peggie leaned down and picked her up, her arm over his shoulder.  For a moment, everything faded to black again.

Next time she opened her eyes, she was drowning. Once she noticed how her lungs felt like they were on fire, she scratched at the arms of the Peggie holding her down.

“We must wash away our past. We must expose our sins.” She heard in the background,  “We must… Atone!”

Finally, the Peggie pulled her up and she gasped for breath.

“For only then may we stand in the  light of God,” said John as the Peggie  led her to him. 

“And walk through his Gate s unto Eden,” he said, drawing a cross on one of the others’ foreheads.

Another person was led to him and he did the same.

When she was brought to him, he closed the Book of Joseph he was holding. She glared at him and clenched her fists. If she had the energy, she’d have punched him already.

“Not this one.” He said, handing the book to the bearded Peggie.  He kept  his  blue  eyes trained on her.  “This one’s not clean.”

Then out of nowhere, his hand was on her throat and she was pushed down into the water again. She could see the anger on his face and knew he was doing this because he wanted to, not because he was ‘Cleansing’ her.

She tried to pull his hand off, but it was hard in her weakened state. Even with her pushing his shoulder, he wouldn’t budge.

“Ahhh, ” he tsked . He was about to push her again but she was prepared – until a voice came from behind him.

“Do you mock the Cleansing, John?”

Evelyn never would’ve thought that one day she’d be happy to hear Joseph. The look on John’s face changed from anger to shame and Evel yn  would be lying if she said she didn’t feel smug. John turned and revealed Joseph standing in front of a truck.

“No, Joseph-“ John began to apologize, but his brother interrupted him. “Shh, you have to love them, John. Do not let your sin prevent that. Bring that one to me.”

The other Peggie let go of her as John pushed her forward forcefully. Joseph reached out his hand s as Evelyn tried to fight back against John, but she still had close to no energy. Once in front of him, he planted his hands firmly on her shoulders.

“Despite all that you have done, you are not beyond  salvation,” he said, staring at her through his yellow glasses, “ You’re not here by accident or by chance.”

Gritting her teeth, Evelyn was ready to spit out some witty remark but Joseph kept talking. “You are here by the grace of God,” he said, “You’ve been given a gift.”

“Now it remains to be seen whether you choose to embrace  it… Or to cast it aside. ”

He finally let go of her and took a step back. He pulled John closer and pointed at Evelyn, “This one shall reach the Atonement. ”

He pushed John’s head closer until their foreheads were touching and whispered, “ Or the Gates of Eden  shall be shut to you, John.”

“Yes, Joseph,” his brother whispered back as Joseph pulled away. Evelyn and Jo hn  watched as he walked away . John then turned to her and the way he moved closer forced her to take a few steps back. “You will confess,” he whispered in a threatening tone,  “Every sin you’ve ever committed , no matter how petty, no matter  how small… I will pull from you. Then we’ll see if you’re worthy of  Atonement .”

He nodded at someone behind her and said person put his hand on the space between her shoulders. Turning her head, she looked at the Peggie who had been drowning her minutes ago . He seemed more careful in the way he led her to the  van where the other two she’d seen earlier were.

The Peggie pushed her inside, next to a brown haired man and slammed the doors shut. Not long after, the car started driving. Still tired, Evelyn sat sl umped in her seat.  Everyone in the car, including the Peggie accompanying them so they wouldn’t make plans to escape, avoided the others’ eyes. Moments passed and a pair of ziptied hands appeared in front of her view. Following the arms with her eyes, she looked at the man sitting next to her.

“If we just confess… If we confess right away , we’ll be OK. Right?!”

For a moment, it hit her. She was the only rog ue Deputy, Hope County’s only hope… These people looked to her and the rest of the resistance for help, to save them from the cult.

She swallowed deeply and her mouth opened but the woman in front of her spoke first. “No, you’ll just make it worse,” she  said, tried her best not to look at the Peggie sitting next to her.

“Why?” the man asked, his voice desperate.

The Peggie leaned closer , “Because  confession without pain isn’t a confession. You’ll scream out your sin and you’ll wear it on  your flesh before John peels it off of you. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Sure didn’t sound like it.

“Fucking Peggies,” the woman grunted.

All was silent. Evelyn focussed on the Peggie and flinched when he slammed the butt of his gun against her head. The woman winced in pain, her head against the door.

The van began to spin wildly and the driver yelled out. The van moved in every way. Up, down, left, right… Then, it flipped over. Due to the lack of seatbelts, they all flew around the van, hitting the sides.

Evelyn’s back hit the roof, and so did her head. She turned sideways, involuntarily and hit the bottom with her arm while the woman hit it with her head. The way her neck bent had Evelyn worried. Evelyn then smashed against the door with her head when the car finally landed.

The sight of the three unconscious people  made her realize she had to get out. She heard someone yelling, someone familiar as she pushed herself against the door. The Peggie started the move too and she began to slam her side into the doors to open them. When she looked back to the Peggie, she saw a gun aiming at her.

Before the Peggie could shoot, though, someone had saved her.

Turning her head, although it hurt, she came face to face with Pastor Jerome with a gun. He put the gun back in an empty spot  in his Bible and pulled out a knife to cut through the zipties tying her wrists together.

“Stay with me,” he said as he helped her get out of the car, “Didn’t go to all this trouble just to  lose you now.”

Another Resistance member came to her and handed her her handgun, sniper rifle and the rifle she stole from a  Peggie, “I’m guessin’ there are yours.”

Evelyn nodded her head and said with a hoarse voice, “Thank you.”

Every part of her body ached as she forced herself to walk past the van. In front of her was a security gate , heavily guarded.

And Resistance members. She didn’t know why the Resistance wanted her to fight here, but she knew she had to fight.

She  stumbled to the trees, her left ankle aching. If she had to guess, she’d guess it was sprained  but not broken, luckily. Evelyn gritted her teeth as she leaned against a tree. She checked her gun to see if the Peggies fucked with it and if there was still ammo left. When a drop of blood landed on her gun, she stared at it in confusion.

Another drop.

Her hand reached up to her nose. Of course it was bleeding.

She grunted and squeezed her nose shut for a few seconds , hoping it’d stop bleeding soon. Unfortunately, she couldn’t afford to care for too long .  She turned around and looked behind the tree. Two Peggies on the security gate, four on the ground. She had to take care of the snipers first.

The first one was easy. They had gotten overly cocky and didn’t think to duck behind cover. The second one, though, was smarter and hid behind cover when his friend got a bullet to the head.

Evelyn cursed when the second sniper didn’t pop his head up for a while and  directed her focus to the Peggies on the ground. They were moving around too much, making it hard for her to snipe. Groaning, she put her sniper rifle on her back and pulled out the rifle. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of hiding and ran as best as she could, shooting at the Peggies.

Her bullets, mixed with the ones from Resistance members, killed the Peggies quickly. More Peggies drove down the road from the other side and Evelyn tried her best to shoot the driver. She couldn’t do it.

Killing the four Peggies was easy anyway.

“Evelyn,” Pastor Jerome yelled as he ran up to her, “They got more resistance members up there , including Merle .  We’ll hold the Peggies off here.”

Evelyn nodded . “Got it,” she said through gritted teeth. Still limping a bit, she ran  past the security gate. Several dead bodies were littered around. Some Peggies, others were innocents. Then, she saw a few who were still tied up, and alive. She looked through her pockets for a knife, any knife, and found a  small pocket knife.

She cut through the zipties of the three tied up Resistance members. “There’s more further up ahead!” one of them  said .

Evelyn nodded and looked ahead of her. She could walk, or climb up a few rocks and use the zipline… It was faster.

She  climbed up the rocks, trying her best to avoid her ankle. After a small struggle, she reached the zipline and firmly grasped the  handle. Inhaling deeply, she stepped off the rock and let herself slide down the line.

Just before she reached the shack the zipline was tied to, she let go of the handle and hit the ground with a thud. Gasping in pain as her left foot made contact with the ground, she gritted her teeth and  tried not to scream. “Fuck, they got a mortar!” a resistance member yelled, pulling her behind the shack as an explosion went off a small distance away. “How  we gonna get to them?” she yelled over the explosion.

The resistance member looked at her and recognized her. “Go. Through the forest and under the bridge. We’ll distract them.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, go!”

Her stomach was heaving up and down with every breath she took. Nodding, she stumbled into the forest on her left.

She groaned with every step she took. But she had to keep going.

There was another small bridge made of wood underneath the other one and it seemed way more unstable. There was no other way.

Stumbling across the wooden bridge, she then climbed on two more rocks before she saw the Peggie  at the mortar. Despite her pain, despite her wounds and bruises, she ran at the Peggie, filled with rage and tackled him to the ground, slamming his head against  the stone ground.

Still sitting on the Peggie’s body, she  pulled out her handgun and swiftly shot another Peggie she noticed in the corner of her eyes. There was a man lying on the ground, h is hands tied. Merle. Merle Briggs.

Once the coast was clear, she stood up and ran over to him, freeing him from his restraints.

“Thank you,” he breathed out .

“Deputy?” Pastor Jerome’s voice came from her radio.

“Yeah?” she asked, breathing heavily.

“ We got a helicopter coming your way.  You ready?”

“Yeah… Just… I just saved Merle.”

“Good. Great,” said Jerome, “ Stay there, the helicopter will be there soon. Over and out.”

Evelyn put her radio back on her belt and  brushed a hand through her hair. She thought that was it, she’d be safe.

The Peggies crossing the bridge told her otherwise.

“Merle,” she called out, ”Man the mortar, Peggies are coming.”

“Of course, Dep,” he replied, nodding curtly and kneeling down behind the mortar. Looking through her scope, she laughed at the Peggies’ stupidity. They were practically lining up for her. She was proud of herself when she shot two Peggies with one bullet. Some of them were smarter and went for the zipline right next to the bridge. When she shot a Peggie who was climbing up the way she’d climbed, she saw two Peggies in the water under both bridges.

“Desperate fucks,” she cursed under her breath. Because the swimming Peggies were constantly moving, it was hard for her to shoot them. She’d have to wait until they crossed the river.

Focussing back on the Peggies crossing the bridge, she noticed a Peggie approaching her from her left. He ran towards her with a bat but Evelyn tackled him quickly, shooting his head with her sniper rifle.

Since she was distracted, she didn’t notice a Peggie on the bridge taking aim. Thanks to Merle bombing the ground, though, he couldn’t do as much damage as he wanted to since the bridge begun to swing and only grazed her shoulder instead of her head. Groaning, she pushed her hand against the wound. It was her right shoulder too. Still, she had to fight through it.

She pulled her handgun from its holster, holding her sniper rifle in her left hand as she aimed at the Peggie and fired wildly. At least some bullets hit.

A helicopter finally appeared from behind the mountains and Evelyn sighed in relief. She tried her best to fight against the remaining Peggies, holding them off as she gave Merle a path to the helicopter.

“Deputy! Get over here!” Merle yelled and Evelyn could hear the worry in his voice.

She had to make a run for it.

Her ankle still hurt, so did her shoulder. At least the bullet that hit her hip back at Rye & Sons didn’t hurt anymore.

She stumbled into the helicopter and let tiredness take over. All energy had left her, she just wanted to sleep... But she couldn’t, not yet.

She still had to get to Fall’s End, pick up Boomer... And Rye & Sons for her car. Then go back home.

Dear god, her bed was calling her and she wanted to answer.

She watched the bridge get smaller and smaller as the helicopter flew further away. “Hey, uh,” she blinked tiredly, looking at Merle, “D’ya know what time it is?”

“Nearly midnight,” the pilot answered, “You’ve been gone a while, both of ya.”

Yawning, Evelyn covered her mouth and sighed, “Pff, can’t wait ‘til I get home.”

“Me neither,” Merle agreed, “Oh, Dep-”

“Call me Evelyn.”

“Evelyn,” he nodded, “If you ever get the chance, go to US Auto. They need your help.”

“Uh, sure...”

She’d do that tomorrow. Her mind and body wanted to sleep. The helicopter landed near green flares, she assumed the Resistance put them there. Two Resistance members walked up to them and helped them get out. “You alright?” a blonde woman asked and Evelyn nodded, ”’m Fine, just tired.”

“We got you ‘n Merle quads. Travel safe.”

The woman handed her a key. Evelyn muttered a quick thanks and walked over to a light grey quad. As she mounted it, she stared at the path ahead. No use in waiting, she told herself, she had to go now.

Merle left first, after saying goodbye and another thanks for the saving. Evelyn revved the motor and listened to the machine purr. A sigh later, she finally left and rode down the dirt path. When she  reached the road, she guessed she was somewhere in the northwest of the region – and a fair distance away from Fall’s End. At least the quad was fast.

It was nearing one AM when she arrived in Fall’s End. She went to get her car first at Rye & Sons and hoped Nick would accept the quad as a gift. She parked her car near the graveyard behind the church and walked on foot as to not cause a disturbance. As she’d assumed, the Spread Eagle was closed and so was the general store. The light in the church was still on, though.

She walked up the steps and saw Pastor Jerome sweeping the floors. He heard her come up and smiled at her, “Deputy, glad to see you’re doing well.”

Evelyn tiredly smiled, “Yeah... Uh... Do you know if Boomer’s OK?”

“Boomer’s alright, he’s sleeping in the back. Mary May brought him to me when I came back. You should thank her, she was the first one to assume something was wrong when you weren’t respondin’,” Jerome told her.

“Yeah, I uh, I will,” Evelyn said, her lips pressed in a thin line. Pastor Jerome then noticed her shoulder. “What happened?” he asked, dropping his broom and walking over to her.

Evelyn looked at the wound that had dried and sighed. “Nearly got my head blown off by a Peggie, I guess?”

He tugged on her wrist and said, “Let me check it real quick.”

She didn’t have the energy to fight him so she let him push her down on a chair before he looked for a first aid kit. Boomer appeared from behind her and climbed on her legs with his front paws. “Hey boy,” she chuckled as he began licking her cheek.

“Ooh, you missed me, didn’t ya?”

Jerome chuckled as he walked up to her with a gauze roll. “This won’t help much, but it’ll be enough ‘till you can visit a doctor tomorrow,” he explained as she lifted her arm so he could wrap up the wound.

“Thanks,” she nodded, stifling another yawn.

“No problem,” he smiled, helping her up, “You’ve already done so much for us... It’s the least we could do.”

“Hey, if you hadn’t saved me, I’d be ‘confessing my sins’ right now,” Evelyn pointed out.

“Well then, guess we’re even.”

“We are. I’ll be back tomorrow, I think,” she told him as she moved towards the door.

Pastor Jerome nodded and turned his back while Boomer quickly ran up to her. Evelyn smiled at him, ”Let’s go home, boy.”


	3. The Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Healing from her wounds, Evelyn still fights against the cult. She has no time to waste, but she does have a billboard to blow up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited (21/03)

It was still early, not even eight AM, when Evelyn arrived at the clinic, but the lights were on and there was someone inside. She felt unsure about coming here. She had been there tons of times, really, but usually only because her father was picking up her mother from work. Other than that, she’d only be there because she broke a leg being her reckless self.

Her ankle seemed to be fine, and Evelyn only felt a slight sting whenever she leaned on it for too long. Her shoulder, though, not so much. It kept her from  sleeping and when she did manage to fall asleep, it woke her up.

When it woke her up for the umpteenth time at six AM, she decided it wasn’t worth trying to go back to sleep and  got started with her day.

“Stay here, alright?’ she said to Boomer, scratching behind his ears, “I’ll be back soon.”

The bell above the door ringed as she walked through it. A doctor just left her office and was about to continue into the other room before she noticed Evelyn. (It took Evelyn a while to remember her name, but in her defence, it’s been ages.)

“Evelyn,”  Doctor  Williams breathed out, “Haven’t seen you in a while. What can I do for you?”

Without saying anything, Evelyn slid her bomber jacket down her arms, revealing the slightly dirty bandage wrapped around her upper arm.

The doctor’s eyes widened . “Oh dear, come with me, you’re lucky you’re my first patient.”

“Lucky?” Evelyn asked, frowning as she followed the doctor into a bigger room with several hospital  stretchers . She was led to one of them and jumped on it as the doctor rummaged through a small cabinet.

“Yeah, ever since the cult started kidnapping folks, we started  gettin ’ more patients,” she explained, “None come as early as you, though.”

She finally revealed the needle and thin, blue thread, “Now… I won’t ask how you got that wound but I will tell you you’ll need stitches.”

“Great,” Evelyn huffed, “'Cause I’m such a big fan of needles.”

Dr Williams chuckled, “Evelyn, how old are you again?”

“Are you saying I’m too old to be scared?”  she smirked, “We all know how you needed my mom and two nurses to take a mouse outside because you  feared the poor  wittle creature.”

“I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine,” the doctor joked, dipping a cotton ball into a clear fluid, probably to disinfect the wound.

She rubbed it over the wound and Evelyn hissed in pain as it started to sting. “Sorry,” the doctor winced, “Now, this might feel very, very weird.”

Evelyn looked  to the other side as Doctor Williams stitched up the wound. She barely felt a thing but god, she didn’t want to see it.

“So, heard you’re saving Hope County?”

“Just trying to do my job,” Evelyn replied, still not looking at the doctor , “Please, don’t mention it. I feel like… People expect too much of me. What if I fail?”

Doctor  Williams sighed , cutting through the thread and making a knot. “Evelyn, remember that time  at the Testy  Festy ?  When you and your brother were  playing, and you fell down and broke your arm?”

“How could I forget? My parents scolded me for weeks.”

“Yes, because instead of going to your parents, you played more,” she laughed, “Because that’s what you do, you always get up again. It won’t matter how many times Joseph and his lunatics push you down, you’ll always get up and fight back harder. But that doesn’t mean you should be walking around with broken arms and  bullet holes.”

“ But what if they… Push me into my grave?” Evelyn sighed, finally meeting Dr  Williams’ eyes.

The doctor  paused for a moment. “Well, you’ll either  crawl out of your grave or haunt them .”

She chuckled, “So, all patched up?”

“Yes, and… Keep an eye on that ankle of yours, won’t you?”

“Of course,” Evelyn replied, not exactly surprised by the fact that the doctor knew about her sprained ankle.

Next destination: Fall’s End.

“Hey Mary May,” Evelyn greeted as she entered the Spread Eagle,  “I’m so sorry ‘bout yesterday.”

“It’s okay,” Mary May smile s, “Boomer here got me a lot of customers yesterday.”

“Yeah, he’s a bit of a celebrity,  ain’t he?” she chuckles, looking down at the dog sitting next to her feet , “Anyway, you uh, ‘got any jobs’ for me?”

“ Heard  ya saved  Nick’s plane yesterday,” Mary  May mentioned,  “ That’s great. You know  Grace Armstrong, right? Poor girl’s holed up in the Lamb of God church ,  defending it from the  Peggies . Mind checking up on her? They usually attack around noon and they know how hard she fights , so be prepared.”

Evelyn nodded and leans on the bar, “Do you think I can  wreck that billboard before that?”

Chuckling,  Mary May leans over, “You’re serious ‘bout this, aren’t you?”

Evelyn smirked.

“ You might be able to pull this off,” she chuckled, “Just get to the church in time, alright?”

“Of course ,” Evelyn promised, “I’ll try not to get kidnapped by  Peggies again , too.”

“Good.”

Boomer obediently stayed with Mary May while Evelyn walked back to her car . Bad Moon Rising started to play as she turned the  engine  on, and she immediately turned the radio louder. With that, she drove off to  Nick’s house.

She parked in the same spot as yesterday and walked towards the hangar w h ere Nick was tinkering on a plane.

Evelyn greeted him and, since he apparently didn’t hear her approach, he banged his  head against the wing of the plane.

“Ah shit,” he cursed, “Hey dep.”

Evelyn chuckles, “ You alright?”

Rubbing the back of his head, he nods, “Yea, yeah. You here for a plane?”

“I mean…. People usually do visit airports for planes?”

“Glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humour.”

“Can’t lose what you don’t have, I guess ,” she shrugs, smiling , “You wouldn’t happen to have a plane with bombs?”

Nick snickers, “Evelyn, ever since the cult arrived, all my planes have bombs. Hmm…  You can take the Wingman. It’s small, but it’s  gonna blow that sign to smithereens. ”

He nods his head at a black  plane next to Carmina, “ Well, you know how to use it.”

“Be sure to watch me ruin that billboard,” Evelyn  said , saluting him with two fingers as she walked to the plane.

The plane itself looked similar to her plane, Apollo.  Except her Apollo was painted orange and dark purple . Apollo also didn’t have any guns or bombs and whatnot. She could only hope she’d actually hit the sign.

She drove the plane onto the airstrip and took a deep breath.

“Here goes…” she murmured , before  moving forwards.

The plane’s movements were swift, like it was a new plane and Evelyn wasn’t exactly used to it. Still, she knew  how to fly and that’s all she needed. The ‘YES’ sign was directly in front of her, only  a thousand or so miles away. It was  definitely going to take more than one bomb to take it  down but judging by the little screen showing four green lights, she’d assumed she had enough.

The air in front of her was empty and she took the time to  inspect her surroundings. The Lamb of God church was peacefully quiet below her – good, Evelyn thought.  On the other side were farms. She saw the security gate  in the distance, and a bit further, a building. John’s bunker, she guessed, where Joey was. And she couldn’t enter without  the fucking key.

I’ll save you Joey, Evelyn promised.

She was nearing the billboard and slightly raised the altitude so she wouldn’t fly directly into the  sign.

There was a small screen on her dashboard with a  reti c le ,  showing her where the bomb would land. With a single press of a button, the bomb fell down and hit the ‘Y’ s’ lower half.

“Damn it,” she cursed, realizing the sign was stronger than she’d assumed. She’d get three more shots before she’d have to shoot the rest  of with the gun.

“Evelyn?” came Dutch’s voice over the radio, “You’re actually  gettin ’ rid of that sign? Good. Goddamn thing’s an eyesore. ”

She smiled and turned her plane as she reached the mountain, letting another bomb loose on the ‘E’. The top half blew to bits and hit the ground below as she tried to get a bit of distance between her and the sign to make it safer to  turn.

Her next victim was the middle of the ‘S’ and  she knew she had to make the last bomb worthwhile.

She spent it on the last bit of the ‘E’.  She calculated she’d have to make four more trips for the last parts (the upper part of the Y and the bottom and top of the S.)

She just hoped she could aim well.

“That’ll piss off John real good . Fuckin’ sign was an eyesore,” Dutch said as she flew away from the now destroyed billboard, “ Glad you took care of it.”

Ev elyn couldn’t help but smile  as she headed for Rye & Son’s . She had to land the plane before she could celebrate – and boy, she wanted to.

Nick was waiting for her when she landed and immediately ran up to her to greet her. “Holy shit, you did it!” he laughed, patting Evelyn on the back.

Evelyn’s radio crackled to life and expecting it to be Dutch, she pulled it from her belt and waited for him to speak.

Only for John to open his mouth.

“When this little uprising is over, you’ll rebuild that, piece by piece, ” he threatened , “You’ll work until your fingers are  worn to the bone. And when you’re  done, I’ll bury you beneath it. ”

Nick’s eyes flicked between her and the radio as his jaw dropped, shocked. He waited for Evelyn to react.

And when she did, she snorted.

She started laughing so hard she had to squat down and clench her stomach.  Nick couldn’t help but join her.

“ I’ll bury you beneath it!” she repeated, her voice high pitched as she  couldn’t stop laughing.

It took her a minute or two to calm down . When she did, she sighed deeply, “God, it feels good to knock him down a peg.”

“Sure does ,” Nick said, helping her up, “ So, any plans on what to do next?”

“Uh, yeah,” Evelyn nods, “I need to help… Grace? Grace Armstrong, at the Lamb of God church.”

“Oh yeah! The  Peggies tryin ’ to destroy her father’s grave an’ all that,” he sighed, “Good luck with that.”

“Thanks,” she sighed, walking to her car.

One thing Evelyn liked about Holland Valley was how the main road basically brought you everywhere.  She only had to follow  the road she took to get to Rye & Son’s and she reached the church in less than twenty minutes. Indeed, there were  Peggies outside already who were prepared to shoot her on sight.

Except they were focused on someone in the  bell  tower.

“Grace…” she whispered under her breath. There was no way Grace was going to survive for long  judging by how the  Peggies were shooting.

Evelyn immediately p arked her car on the side of the road and took her sniper rifle. The  Peggies hadn’t noticed her yet, luckily. She took note of the Peggie manning the machine gun on the back of a Peggie truck and took ai m.

BANG.

The  Peggies , startled, stopped firing and allowed Grace to take aim as they looked for the shooter. They didn’t see Evelyn who, admittedly, was standing a fair distance away from them, and she used it to her advantage.

The gunshots masked her footsteps as she ran up to the nearest Peggie, jumping on him to bash his head in with her sniper rifle. Another Peggie noticed her and she whipped out her  handgun to shoot him, nearly missing his neck. The Peggie fell to the ground, holding his neck as the last remaining  Peggies noticed her. She dropped her sniper rifle to take her other rifle and began firing at two  Peggies while Grace took out the last one.

Standing up, Evelyn waved at Grace who beckoned her closer. She picked up her sniper rifle and slung it over her shoulder as she walked on the small path of the graveyard. There was a ladder leading up to the bell tower and judging by its colour, it was definitely not part of the original building, but she didn’t have time to question the church’s design choices.

“Name’s Grace,” Grace greeted her, firmly shaking her hand once she reached the bell tower, “ Got news someone  was out  makin ’ life  miserable for the cult. You got good timing. ”

She walked back to the window she was shooting out of and looked at the graveyard. “See those graves out there?”

“ Kinda hard to miss.”

Grace dryly chuckled, “My pop’s buried  here , he was a veteran. Peggies are  tryin ’ to defile the graves of the veterans buried here. Tryin ’ to demoralize us , get us to break so we’ll roll over. Not on my fuckin’ watch.  Ain’t no one touching my  pops’ grave while I’m still breathing . I’m a good shot but that sure as hell don’t keep the  Peggies at bay.”

“ Maybe if they find out you’re not alone, they’ll leave,” Evelyn suggested, “You stay here and I defend the graveyard from the ground,  whaddya say?”

She lifted her fist, offering it to Grace.

Grace grinned and bumped her first, “Deal.”

“They’ll be here any second,” she explained, “Head down there, use the zipline if you need to.”

Evelyn nodded and used the zipline, this time landing on her right foot instead of both (and nearly tripping.)

Indeed, a pickup truck  b earing the Eden’s Gate logo was approaching the church.

“ Peggies ! In the trees!” Grace called out and Evelyn turned her head to the trees  to the right of her. Because of said trees, the  Peggies had a lot of cover and she had to focus on the pickup truck while hiding behind a half wall. 

How she managed to shoot the driver was still a  mystery, but she didn’t have the time to care. She heard Grace praise her but c ouldn’t pay attention to what she was saying as she took the time to focus on the  Peggies hiding behind the trees. The pickup truck spun out of control and hit the wall  surrounding the graveyard , throwing the Peggie sitting behind the machine gun out and giving her a small advantage.

For a brief moment, Evelyn was worried. There were too many  Peggies . But she had to do it. She had to succeed.

Just as she shot the final Peggie that came out of the truck, she turned to the trees again and began to fire with her rifle – only for it to be out of bullets. She wouldn’t be able to focus with her sniper rifle nor would she be able to hit them all with her handgun.

A Peggie with a flamethrower was making her way to one of the graves. She had to act quick.

Without a second thought, Evelyn ran across the graveyard, to the  Peggie and tackled her. She forcefully took the flamethrower and threw it away before shooting her in the head with a handgun.

Now, only the  Peggies in the trees were left. She saw three but there could be more .

“Road! Road!” Grace called out once the  Peggies hiding in the trees were dead.

Turning her head, Evelyn saw  two more truck s approach. Rolling her eyes, annoyed, she tried her best to take them out quickly ,  looting some ammo for her sniper rifle of  a dead body as she ducked behind a wall.

Once all the  Peggies were dead, Grace climbed down the ladder. “Thanks,” she said, walking up to Evelyn who was leaning against the half wall she was hiding behind, “I owe you.”

“Nah, you don’t,” Evelyn shook her head, “I’m only trying to help wherever I can.”

“Yeah, well, we damn well need it.  Not a lot of people would have stuck their  neck out like that,” she  said, her lip curling into a smile, “Means a lot to me. My pops always said, as long as we keep  believin ’ in  each other, there’s still hope.”

“If we stick together, look out for one another…  Cult will never break us,” she  continued, “I  ain’t about to get all sappy and shit, but if you  ever need help,  gimme a call. I got your back.”

“Thanks, I…” said Evelyn, “I appreciate that, a lot.”

“I’m serious,” Grace  assured, “ I’ll fight the entire cult by your side if need be. I’ll let Dutch know I’m ‘officially’ part of the Resistance. ”

“ I’ll call you if I need you,” she promised finally.

Grace walked away from her as Evelyn stayed where she stood.  She put her guns down next to her and squeezed her fingers open and closed repeatedly, a n ache spreading through her muscles every time she did. “Damn it,” she hissed.  She had to take a break for a moment.

She slung her guns over her back and put her handgun in its holster.  Her stomach rumbled and when she looked at the time on her radio, she noticed it was nearly noon.

“ Spread Eagle, here I come,” she whispered, walking down the path of the  graveyard and to her car parked down the road. Might as well visit Boomer while she was back in Fall’s End.

“Hey Dep,” Dutch’s voice came from the radio. Leaning against her car, she put the radio to her ear.

“Heard you met Grace . Known her since she was a kid. Honest,  tough… Every bit the soldier her daddy was. Probably  ten times the shot, too. She’ll watch your back when  the shit hits the fan. ”

“Yeah,” Evelyn chuckled, “That’s the impression I got from her. You got anything else? I’m heading to the Spread Eagle for lunch now.”

“Nah, enjoy your meal, you deserved it. Dutch over.”

She muttered a quiet ‘thanks’ to no one and entered her car.

When she entered the Spread Eagle half an hour later, she was immediately greeted by Boomer . “Hey there,” Mary May said, “You didn’t forget to help Grace, did  ya ?”

Evelyn’s eyes widened and so did Mary May’s.

Evelyn then laughed, “Don’t worry, she’s fine and so is the church. I’m just here  ‘cause I’m starving. Also, to see if you got anything for me to do.”

After placing her order and taking a seat at a table , Boomer joining her at her feet , she started thinking of Joey.

Were they taking Evelyn to John’s bunker, when Pastor Jerome had saved her? How close was she to seeing Joey again? What was John doing to her? Maybe she was too late already. Maybe Joey was dead. Maybe she died thinking Evelyn had abandoned her.

Mary May approached her with a plate and pulled her from her thoughts. “Here  ya go,” she said, “Free of charge,  ‘ cause you saved our asses.”

“No, no!” Evelyn  declined, “I can pay -“

“I’m serious, you’re just… Risking your life for us, it’s the least we can do,” she said, refusing the money Evelyn was pulling out of her jacket, “Besides, if you really want to pay, repay me by getting the  Widowmaker back.”

“Should’ve known something was  missin ’.”

“Yeah, well, the  Peggies took it,” Mary May explained, “I’d like it back,  y’know ? Before they paint it in that ugly Peggie colour.”

“Do  ya know where it is?”

“You know that grain elevator?”

“Alright, I’ll go when I’m finished,” Evelyn promised and Mary May chuckled, “I’ll join ya, and don’t worry, take your time.”

The grain elevator was far, far away from Fall’s End, close to the border of the Valley. And since she’d be driving the  Widowmaker back to Fall’s End, she wouldn’t be able to take her car. And she didn’t want to walk all the way, but right now, it seemed as if she had no other choice. At least she had company.

She finished eating – and feeding Boomer some scraps – and brought her plate to the bar. “Hey, so uh, how are we getting to the grain elevator?” she asked light heartedly and Mary May gave her a smile, “A Resistance member is picking us up and dropping us off nearby”

Evelyn let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god. And Boomer?”

“He can stay here, if that’s alright?”

“Better than in a Peggie’s line of sight, I guess.”

“True. I’ll let Maria know to come pick us up.”

Maria was a woman in her thirties, with dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes. She and Mary May seemed to know each other, but Evelyn had no idea who she was. On the way to the grain elevator, Maria mentioned how she moved to Hope County a few years back, a while after Evelyn moved to Helena.

“Evelyn, right? Evelyn McDaniel?” Maria asked, looking at Evelyn through the  rearview mirror. A tight smile appeared on her face as she nodded, “Yep, that’s me.”

“You ever knew a uh, Rheese?”

Shaking her head, she muttered a ‘no’.

“Hmpf, should’a known,” Maria sighed.”

Mary May explained it to Evelyn. “She worked undercover or  s’thing , pretended to be part of the cult and then... Disappeared.”

Her eyes widened. “Disappeared? As in...?” she asked, dragging a finger across her throat.

Mary May sighed and shrugged, “No one knows.”

Evelyn sank back into her seat and looked out the window, watching the trees of Holland Valley pass by.

It wasn’t long before Maria dropped them off, since she couldn’t get too close without alerting the  Peggies of their  presence . They spent the rest of the walk talking about potential strategies.

At last, the grain elevator came into view. They could hear one of the cult’s songs playing, overlapped with the sound of someone crying… Begging.

“No, no please!”

_ Joey. _

“What?” asked Mary May, and Evelyn realized she had said her name out loud.

Rage filled her as she ran through a hole in the fence and attacked the first  Peggie she saw by slamming his head against a box he was leaning over. Mary May called out her name, chasing after her. The other  Peggies heard and came racing to her, one by one. She shot left and right, narrowly avoiding hits and bullets.

Mary May quickly fired a round of bullets into a Peggie – a heavily armed one, who ran at her when she fought off all the other Peggies. She thought she was prepared but when she lunged at the Peggie, he dodged her and threw her on the ground, her backpack falling a small distance away as she landed on her shoulder – the wounded one.

She screamed out, loudly and cried out in pain. Footsteps approached her and Mary May yelled out a warning. Hissing in pain, she desperately crawled to her backpack, but the Peggie stepped on her hand, nearly breaking it and she turned around, facing the Peggie.

BANG.

With a final shot from Mary May’s handgun, the Peggie fell on top of her. Evelyn quickly pushed him off and grabbed her backpack. Mary May immediately ran up to her as she rubbed her hand, gritting her teeth. “Thanks for your help,” she breathed out as Mary May helped her up.

Without further ado, she immediately made her way to the truck with the speakers, listening to John’s monologue as she leaned against the back. Then, Joey yelled again, calling John a piece of shit before crying out again.

A hand touched her shoulder as John continued speaking as if he wasn’t torturing her girlfriend – until finally.

“Will you atone?”

“... Yes.”

Joey sounded broken, her voice raspy and it was evident she had been crying. Evelyn winced visibly as Mary May went to turn the radio off, which Evelyn was grateful for.

In front of the truck was a large storage space and they, of course, assumed that was where they kept the Widowmaker.

They were right. After calming down, Evelyn walked inside and opened the door to the passenger seat for Mary May before throwing her bag inside.

She then ran over to the  driver's seat to see the  Peggies had left the key in the ignition. Smirking, she opened the gate and entered the  Widowmaker . Rock music began playing as she put her hands on the steering wheel and she grinned.

She was feeling pretty badass.

She drove through the metal gates, breaking them with the  Widowmaker as she tried to ignore Joey’s cries playing over the radio. She’d get her revenge. Soon.

“I’m hearing Peggie chatter,” Mary May smirked, listening to her radio.

“Shit.”

Her smirk disappeared. “They’ve set up roadblocks.”

“Shit, what are we  gonna do?” Evelyn frowned, but Mary May didn’t seem as worried. “Drive through ‘em.”

She leaned over, showing a button under the steering wheel. “This baby’s got guns, don’t be afraid to use ‘em.”

“Don’t worry,” Evelyn said, tightening her grip on the steering wheel as the first roadblock came in sight.

Let’s just say the guns worked.

After  plowing through nine roadblocks and even destroying a helicopter, she was finally  en route to Fall’s End.

She had to slow down, lest she hit anyone with the truck – anyone who was innocent, that is.

Mary May instructed her to park it next to the Spread Eagle before they both got out. Mary May handed Evelyn back her backpack before she took a good view of the Widowmaker.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe my eyes,” said Mary May, walking up to her, “I  gotta say, Evelyn,  seein ’ my dad’s truck  rumblin ’ home sure brings back memories.”

“Yeah, I remember my dad saying you’d stand here every time when he came back.”

“That’s true,” she chuckled, “At the door, wavin’ and everything.  Ya definitely got the grit to handle her. And more importantly, you got the heart. My dad  woulda liked you.”

She puts her hand on Evelyn’s shoulder, “If you ever need to use the  Widowmaker , you don’t even  gotta ask… Just bring her back when you’re done.”

“Thanks,” Evelyn smiled.

“In the meantime, I’ll keep my ear to the ground. If I hear anything that’s worth your while, I’ll let  ya know,” she said,  “Thanks again Evelyn. Why don’t you come inside and get some dinner?”

“Shit what time is it?”

“ It’s five, so you better get some dinne r,” Mary May replied .

“Only if I’m allowed to pay this time.”

“You know you’re not. Especially now.”

Nonetheless, Evelyn followed her inside.

After buying dog food from the store across the Spread Eagle, she went home. She was glad she found dogfood for Boomer, and that Mary May had the  Widowmaker back. That didn’t stop her entire body from aching, though. She was tired and her antics from earlier definitely didn’t help.

It was  ten PM when she went to bed, but despite her mind and body being tired, she couldn’t sleep. She just couldn’t. So instead she laid awake, toying with her radio. She switched  through the channels, only getting  white noise and silence… Then, she got to a Peggie channel.

Joey’s cries filled the room and Evelyn froze. She clenched her eyes shut and squeezed the radio tightly.  A sob tore through her body , and her cry echoed through the room, together with Joey’s. She sat up, squeezing the radio tighter. She wanted to throw it across the room. Break it.  Stop Joey from crying. She wanted to save Joey.

Finally, she forced herself to switch back to her channel and Joey’s cries stopped .

Silence.

Boomer, who was sleeping on the bed, moved closer to her and nestled himself between her arms. She put the radio on her nightstand  and held Boomer, squeezing her eyes shut and hoping she’d fall asleep soon.

Boomer was still sleeping next to her when she woke up. Looking at the  clock on her nightstand, she realized it was eight AM. Both pleased and slightly pissed off that she slept  for a bit longer, she got up and started her day.

She repeated her routine of going to Fall’s End to drop of Boomer – it made her feel like a mom dropping off her toddler at  daycare – and to find out what more she could do to help the resistance.

When she dropped off Boomer, Mary May let her know Pastor Jerome asked to see her which is why she went to the church in Fall’s End.

“Hey,” Evelyn greeted him , “Mary May told me you wanted to see me.”

“I do,” Pastor Jerome said, standing up from his chair, “How’s your arm?”

“ It’s… Alright.”

He nodded.

“ We’re very grateful you’re here,” he told her, “ I… We needed all the help we could get. When you get the chance, head out east  and check on our  people at the Woodson Pig Farm, I haven’t heard from them in a few days… I’m worried. We can’t afford to lose a single one of our fighters.”

“Woodson Pig Farm? Sure, I’ll check it out ,” Evelyn nodded, “I’ll go to US Auto  after that . Merle asked me to when  we were in the helicopter.”

“Take all the time you need, Evelyn,” said Jerome, “And… Don’t force yourself, please.”

Evelyn slightly smiled and left the church.

From what Pastor Jerome had told her, she got a bad feeling about the Woodson Pig Farm. She hoped everything was alright, of course, but  clearly she couldn’t  be sure.

She parked her car further away from the farm, scared she’d alert the  Peggies , should there be any. It turned out Pastor Jerome was right to feel worried.  Peggies had tied up resistance members and judging by the red jerrycans,  she knew she arrived just in time.

She crouched down in the tall grass to stay hidden when she noticed a Peggie inside the house. The door squeaked as she pushed it  open but the Peggie was too busy threatening the tied up resistance member to notice. Evelyn moved slowly as she snuck up on him, before wrapping her arms around the Peggie’s neck and squeezing hard.

The Peggie pulled at her arms, trying to free himself, but  life left his body quickly and he dropped to the ground. Evelyn paid him no mind as she immediately untied the resistance member.

“There’s  two more!” he whispered, “ They’re outside.”

Evelyn nodded and took the Peggie’s gun, shoving it in the resistance member’s hands, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it.”

He looked at her for a moment before he said: “Thank you.”

Outside, she spotted two more  Peggies through the window, one with a flamethrower.

She slowly opened the window of the bathroom and when she saw the Peggie light up his flamethrower, she jumped through. The sound of fire  muffled the sound of her feet hitting the ground and  how she ran to a pickup truck for cover.

A Peggie with a bat was facing away from her. If she timed it right, she could take them out.

She stepped forward and stopped when the flamethrower-wielding Peggie stopped lighting stuff on fire. When he continued, so did she.

Soon enough, she  picked up a rock and slammed it against the Peggie’s head . Their body hit the ground with a  thud and she pulled it in the bushes to hide it from the  Peggies .

She had to distract the Peggie with the flamethrower, there was no way she could sneak up on him like this. She looked at the rock she used to  kill the Peggie and threw it past the other one. The sound distracted him long enough for Evelyn to run up to him and snap his neck.

When his body dropped, she saw two more  Peggies , too busy taunting two resistance members.  Startled, Evelyn pulled the body behind the house and hid behind the corner.

She could easily take both of them out. They were too cocky, felt too invincible. She could knock them down a peg or two.

She untied the resistance members quickly and freed their dog that she hadn’t noticed until she  killed the last  Peggies .

“Reinforcements!” the first guy she freed yelled, running out of the house, “They’re on their way! Reinforcements!”

“Shit!” Evelyn cursed as the others picked up guns from the dead  Peggies . “Don’t worry,”  one of the resistance members assured her, “We got this.”

She nodded and readied her rifle.

Two trucks pulled up, loudly playing ‘Oh John!’ . They parked in front of the house and  Peggies jumped out, ready to fire. The resistance was faster, though .

Eight more  Peggies , dead.

“Thanks for  savin ’ us, dep,” said one of the people she’d save . “No problem,” she breathed out , putting her rifle in her backpack , “Think you’ll be alright?”

The resistance member nodded, “Yeah, don’t worry .”

After she  entered her car again, she thought about US Auto , another outpost to liberate. It wasn’t the closest  location but she had her car, after all.

Liberating it went easier than she expected. She took out the alarms first – which did alert the  Peggies but they couldn’t see her in the trees so as long as she was shooting heads, she was fine. She let the Resistance know when she was certain all the  Peggies were gone and within fifteen minutes, trucks pulled up with resistance members , including Merle.

“Hey dep!” he greeted, “Heard you were the one who destroyed that damn sign,  real nice of you!”

“ Yup, that was me,” Evelyn chuckled, “So uh, you got US Auto back!”

“Yeah, but I do  kinda need another favour,” he  announced, “ But I’ll owe  ya !”

Sighing, Evelyn shrugged, “What  d’ya need?”

“The  Peggies took of with the Deathwish.”

“Deathwish?”

“The strongest car in all of Hope County,” Merle swore, “ Help me take it back, please?”

“Fine,” she sighed, “Where is it ?”

“Thanks! It’s at the gas station down the road ,” he explained, smiling, “After that, we can attack the Cult and their bliss.”

“Alright , wait here,” Evelyn sighed, walking over to the road. The gas  station Merle talked about  wasn’t that f a r and considering she’d be taking the Deathwish, it’d be stupid to take her car. It didn’t take her l ong to reach the gas station. When she spotted a  car with bright green and purple colours, she knew she found the Deathwish.

There were two  Peggies standing next to it and Evelyn could take them out with one bullet, but she decided to see if there were more, first.

Her instincts were right when she saw two more  Peggies who ran out of the store. Before they could approach the car, she shot them quickly and ran to the car. There was a strange smell of liquor that hit  her and she  retched. She opened the  window and  drove back to US Auto, where Merle was waiting for her.

He immediately jumped in the seat behind the machine gun on the back of the car and yelled out: “Drive!”

“Where to?” she yelled back, slightly annoyed by the lack of information he was giving her.

“To the left here, and again at the gas station.”

As Evelyn followed his instructions flawlessly, she also ignored how he ‘knew the cult was bad news’ and ‘always told everyone but people told him to give them a chance’.

The only reason she hadn’t gotten out of the car and left him there was so she could help the resistance – at least, according to Merle.

His instructions took them to  Reservoir Construction Yard ,  which was filled with bliss supplies and  Peggies . “Just  plow right through ‘ em ! I’ll shoot the  Peggies !” Merle announced , so Evelyn did as  asked and started driving through the bliss.

The Deathwish was a hard car to control so turning proved to be a difficult task for her. At least she managed to drive over a few  Peggies here and there. “Can you shoot the rest of the bliss?” Evelyn yelled over the sound of the gunfire.

“Got it!” was the response she got. He shot the two bliss tanks she couldn’t  hit and she finally stopped the car.

Merle excitedly yelled out as Evelyn rested her head against the steering wheel. “ Want me to drive you back to US Auto?” she asked, looking behind her. She couldn’t see  anything except for his legs . “ You sit in the passenger seat, I’ll drive. Let you rest and all that.”

Normally, Evelyn would argue but she didn’t have the energy, really. The bliss had made her slightly tired and she wanted nothing more but to rest, really. She slipped in the passenger seat  as Merle got out from behind the machine gun and sat behind the wheel.

As he left the  construction yard, Evelyn  told Jerome the good news through her radio.

“That’s great, deputy,” he replied, and Evelyn could hear the happiness in his tone, “Thanks to you, countless of people have signed up to join the fight, to help the resistance. You inspire people, and it’s only a matter of time  before we beat John Seed and save Hudson.”

Evelyn couldn’t help but blush as she said: “Thanks, pastor Jerome.”

The other end was silent until they arrived back at US Auto.

When her radio crackled again , after she got out of the Deathwish , she expected to hear Pastor Jerome or Mary May with another task. Instead…

“Dep-u-ty!” John Seed said, and she instinctively rolled her eyes, “ You’ve had your fun . But all sinners must confess . This is the will of the Father. My men are  coming for you. I’ll see you soon. ”

Merle stared at her in shock, but she didn’t seem to care much.

In fact, she groaned, annoyed, and threw her car keys to Merle. “My car’s parked down the road , take care of it for me,” she ordered, “You got any quads I could use?”

“Uh- uh, yeah, of course!” he stammered, fumbling with the keys and leading her to a quad, “Why?”

“I’m  gonna lead the  Peggies away from me,”  she quickly explained, mounting a quad and turning it on, “ They can take me but I sure as hell  ain’t gonna allow them to take any of you, alright?”

“But, dep, we have a chance of fighting them!”

“John  ain’t gonna stop  tryin ’ to hunt me, you know that.”

With that, she  started driving down the road. Past the gas station.  Through Fall’s End, even. Past Rye & Son’s. The  Peggies caught up with her at the Lamb of God Church,  and she knew they were hot on her trail. A miscalculation left her driving down the wrong road and soon she was nearing a tunnel – a destroyed tunnel with a body hanging in front of it.

“Shit!” she cursed and prepared for a sharp turn. She whipped out her handgun and whizzed past the  Peggies , shooting wildly and hoping she’d hit at least one of them. Sadly, they turned out to be better shots and her sight grew hazy. She lost control of the quad and fell off when it flipped, hitting the ground with a thud as her left side hit the road.

She coughed loudly, clutching the left side of her stomach. Her handgun had dropped a small distance away. She heard  Peggies approaching and tried her best to crawl over to her handgun,  but a Peggie stepped on her back and stopped her from moving. 

“ John’ll be happy to see  ya .”

Before she knew it, her sight grew dark.

Evelyn didn’t know how much time had passed when she opened her eyes again. Her muscles still felt weak and stopped her from moving, but at least she could see, for now.

“She put up a good fight,” a Peggie said, walking up to her as she laid on the ground of a dimly lit room, or hallway , “Wake up Sinner.”

Another voice caught her attention. “Would be easier to just put a bullet in ‘ er .”

“That is not the will of the Father,” the first Peggie defended , “Take her to John, he’s ready to hear her confession. ”

The Peggie who was eager to kill her tugged on her legs , but considering the state she was in, she couldn’t defend herself and was forced to watch how the Peggie carried her away before her eyes closed again.

When she woke up again, she found herself able to move again, if only for a little bit. It took her eyes a while to adjust to the room, but when she did, she immediately noticed Joey.

She immediately tried to stand up, to run to her girlfriend, but found herself tied to  a office chair. Joey was looking at her, tears streaming down her cheeks and over the piece of duct tape over her mouth. Whistling came from behind her and moved to her side as John Seed himself came into view, carrying a toolbox.

We’ll meet again. He was whistling  a Vera Lynn song.

He set the toolbox down on a table and wiped some dust away before pulling something out of the toolbox. Evelyn wasn’t sure what it was at first, but when she realized it was skin – probably human – her eyes widened. He nailed it to the wall of the table, still whistling.

He then turned around to face her, leaning against the table. “My… Parents, were the first  ones to teach me about the  ‘Power of Yes’. One night, they took me into the kitchen, and they  threw me on the ground, and I experienced pain after pain after pain after pain -“

He slammed the  nailgun down on the table, loudly, startling both Evelyn and Joey.

“And when I didn’t think I could take anymore,” he continued as if nothing happened, “I did. ”

He walked over to her, holding something in his  left hand, like a pen and pushed a lamp i n front of her, switching it on. “Something broke free inside,” said John, “I wasn’t scared, I was… clear.”

A tattoo  gun . He was holding a tattoo gun.

“I looked up at them and I started to laugh,” he said, fiddling with the tattoo gun, “All I could  say was… Yes.”

He attached the gun to a tube , briefly turning it on before turning it off again and put it down on a small table next to them .

“I spent my entire life looking for more things to say yes to ,” he said, leaning over her. His hands moved to the top of her grey shirt and carelessly ripped it apart, revealing her sports bra.  She caught him staring and gritted her teeth, pulling her head back and bringing it back forward quickly, hitting him in the head. She didn’t hit him as hard as she would’ve liked, but it hurt and that’s all that mattered.

John rubbed his forehead and  visibly gritted his teeth. He then went back to his previous position over her. “I opened up every hole in my body and when those were filled,  I created more.”

She stared at him in horror.

“But it was Joseph who showed me just how selfish I was  being,” he said, taking a sponge from a table and roughly pressing it against a spot just above her bra , “Always receiving. Always taking .”

Evelyn gritted her teeth as he only pushed harder and harder, nearly pushing her backwards. “The best gift isn’t the one you get,” he continued, “It’s the one you  give and giving takes courage. ”

“ The courage… ” he finally threw the sponge back on the table and walked to the bigger one, “To own your sin. To etch it on to your flesh and  carry its burden and when you have endured, when  you have truly  begin to atone, to cut it out like a  cancer and display it for all to see … My God, that’s courage. ”

He  pulled a tool from the desk – a file . With that, he walked back and forth across the room.

“I’m going to teach you courage. Teach you how to say yes so you can confront your weaknesses. Confront  your sin,” he said, passion in his voice, “You will swim across an ocean of pain and  emerge… free.”

He walked over to her and harshly pressed the file against her shoulder – the wounded one. “For only then can you truly begin to atone. ”

At last, he walked back to the table yet again.

“So, who wants to go first? Hm?”

Evelyn’s eyes moved to Joey’s crying form.  She didn’t want to say yes. She wanted to fight against John Seed.

“Which one?”

But if she didn’t say yes, what would he do to Joey? W as she really willing to risk her girlfriend’s life for her pride?

“This is lesson number one,” John impatiently said, “ Someone’s got to choose.”

Joey struggled against her restraints, crying against the duct tape.

“Yes!” Evelyn finally yelled out, taking her eyes off of Joey.

“Yes. YES!” John excitedly said as Joey’s cries only grew louder.

John pointed the file at her and blocked Joey from her sight, “You’re not going to regret this, I promise.”

He then threw the file away and walked over to Joey. “Now, before  we begin, I think it’s only proper that Deputy Hudson  goes back to her room. Confessions are meant to be private , after all.”

He wheeled Joey’s chair closer until he stood in front of Evelyn again.  Joey still fought against the rope tying her to her chair and Evelyn desperately wanted to reach out to help her.

“Shh  shh shh ,” John whispered, “I’m not here to take your life. I’m here  to give it to you.”

His attempts to reassure Joey failed.

He pushed the lamp away and wrapped his hands around Evelyn’s throat, squeezing just hard enough to choke her. “I’m going to open you and pour your worst fears inside ,” he gritted his teeth, but Evelyn kept her eyes trained on Joey. “And as you choke, your sins will reveal themselves,” he continued.

Evelyn could hear Joey cry out for him to stop, despite the duct tape. 

“Only then will you truly understand the Power of Yes.”

His eyes flicked back to her chest for a split second before he let go of her neck. Evelyn gasped for breath and John walked past her, taking Joey with him. She heard the door behind her close and Joey’s cries faded.

Evelyn was not going to leave it at that. She spotted another entrance on the right side of the room and a socket pipe on the left. Maybe there’s a way to free herself.

Pushing herself to the other entrance, she saw a staircase.

It seemed endless. But she had no choice, this was probably the only way to free herself. Taking a deep breath, she finally gave the chair another push and pressed her lips together as the back of the chair hit the stairs first. The impact pulled her left hand free and when she had the chance, she grabbed the railing and tore her right hand free . Breathing heavily, she leaned down and untied her feet from the chair and tore the leftover rope from her hands.

She left the chair there as she ran back up to the room and picked up the socket pipe. Turning around, she finally noticed the camera that had been recording them the entire time.  Rage took over her and she ran to the camera, readying the pipe and smashing the camera to bits.

When she was satisfied, she walked to the door John had disappeared through with Joey, only to find it securely locked.

She slammed her hand against it in anger an d thought about how to escape. Evelyn then decided to go back down the stairs and to see  if there was an exit that way.

After crawling underneat h a few pipes, she  came across a large tube, leading to a small room.

She crawled through it and looking up, only saw light. Below her, though, was another floor. And  a rug.

It muffled the sound of her feet hitting the ground and she was very grateful for that when she walked through another tube, straight into a dorm-like room with two  Peggies . They were both easy  to take out with her socket wrench and so was the Peggie she came across in the hallway on the other side of the room.

Another Peggie was leaning against a box and required for her to be extra quiet, but she still knocked him out with ease. She followed the hallway to a  bunker door and looked through the small window to see if any  Peggies were around. When she deemed it safe enough, she unlocked the door and it opened with a hiss. She still crouched, just so she could hide if she had to. On the left of her, she spotted two  Peggies . She could take them out, if only they turned the other way.

A can caught her eye and she thanked whoever put it there before throwing it past the  Peggies . Startled by the sound, the  Peggies turned away from her and gave her enough time to sneak up on them so she could knock them out together.

She followed the hallway  and came to yet another dorm room, with four  Peggies this time. One on a couch, another one training, and another one drowning the last one in what Evelyn assumed was bliss.

The closest one was the training Peggie and Evelyn wasted no time choking him until he passed out, his pleas for help drowned out by the Peggie who was being tortured by the other one.

Moving as quiet as a mouse, she sneaked over to the Peggie on the couch and knocked him out cold when she spotted a key near a tv.

Th e tag attached to it  said ‘John’s locker’ and she decided it was worth checking out. But first, the last two  Peggies . She took  care of the Peggie who was drowning the other one first and when the last Peggie fell in the Bliss container, she put them out of their misery.

She then left the room, only to hide behind the corner when two  Peggies walked out of a different hallway. Evelyn noticed she was now facing a door and it’d either lead to Joey or to John’s locker.

She had to get rid of the  Peggies first. One walked her way and was easy to take care of, since she was still hiding. She was a bit bolder with the other one and just ran up to him and smashed his face in with the pipe.

She breathed heavily as the Peggie hit the floor before turning back to the door she’d seen. Fumbling with the key, she unlocked it and immediately spotted her backpack.

She smiled, relieved she at least had her weapons back and swung it over her shoulder. She readied her rifle just in case after making sure she still had enough ammo and left the room. This time, she went to where the  Peggies came out of and came across another bunker door.

Upon seeing Joey through the tiny window, she tried to open the door only to find it shut tight. John, who had been tying Joey’ s arms to the armrests, heard the sound and looked up at her. He pointed at her as Joey seemed to cry out, yell something, but Evelyn couldn’t hear.

John walked up to the door and pressed a button so Evelyn could finally hear him.

“I know your sin,” he smugly said as Evelyn banged her fist against the metal door, “ It drives you. Every thought. Every action.”

“Let me in!” she interrupted through gritted teeth.

He ignored her.

“Your sin is Wrath.”

“ So I’ll indulge you,” said John as Evelyn glared at him, “ Become Wrath, let it fill you r body and consume your soul , because in the end… You’ll still be empty . And I’ll be waiting right here.”

He looked at Joey for a second before turning back to Evelyn. “We both will,” he sneered. With that, he lifted his finger off the button, cutting off communication and walked back to Joey. He pulled on her chair, pulling her backwards as she seemingly yelled at Evelyn. Evelyn yelled, slapping against the door and desperately trying to  open the door, to no avail.

A ventilator next to her turned on as John and Joey disappeared behind a door , blowing a green mist into the room. It made her cough and she knew she had to leave.

“Bunker door closing -“ said a female voice over the intercom.

“Shit,” Evelyn  whispered and she immediately ran up a staircase on her left. She had to leave. Leave.

“Give ‘ er all the Wrath she can handle, brothers!” shouted John, “ Say YES. I will give my life in the name of the Father!”

Three  Peggies ran down a staircase on the other side of the room and Evelyn wasted no time shooting them.

John was right. Wrath was her sin and she was going to fucking prove it.

She stumbled up the stairs, coughing violently as  a dizziness came over her.

She had to leave.

More stairs. She wasted no time running up , stumbling over her feet every so often and even tripping once. She got up, determined to escape, but also to save her girlfriend.

“Bunker door closing. Bunker door close -“

Evelyn blocked the voice from her ears as she shot two more  Peggies , wondering when the stairs would come to an end.

“Let them feast on their sin! Let them choke on it!”

“Fuck you John,” she  struggled as she crawled up the last few steps.

She stood up again and finally saw the bunker door. Freedom was within reach. The light blinded her but part of her was glad to see it was still day time, maybe she wasn’t gone for as long as she thought.

“Bathe in your sin … So that you may see how futile  your efforts are.” John said as Evelyn choked a Peggie running up to her, shooting another one as she did.

“Your sin consumes you. Blinds you to all the  harm you  inflict,” John yelled as she shot more and more  Peggies , running past them , “It allows you  to dispense  of human life so  easily. Have you ever  given so much as a second thought  to killing?”

She was barely listening, stumbling down the road and nearly falling with each step she took. Escape. That was the only thing on her mind.

She shot two more  Peggies behind her , missing a few shots here and there but still killing them.

“Drive the sinner from this place,” he instructed his  Peggies , “ Let  her run! Let  her hide! For no matter where  she go es ,  God will guide us to her !”

The road seemed endless as she ran and ran. Each breath she took burned and she could barely see straight.

“See? THAT IS THE POWER OF YES!”

She tripped and hit the ground. Gasping in pain, she forced herself to stand up and run even more. But she was so out of breath…

“There’s nothing more you can do here, deputy . I’ll come for you when you’re  good and ready.”

She thought she had found salvation when she found a quad, but she could barely focus and there was definitely no key. Evelyn had no time to waste. The  Peggies were probably still chasing her.

“Leave this place…” said John, “Gorge yourself on Wrath . Because if you don’t , if you stay here, I will bleed your  little princess like a stuck pig.”

The threat forced Evelyn to run more. The determination to make sure Joey lived forced her to run more.

She had to stay strong, for Joey.

She crossed a bridge and stumbled into a small forested area where she fell down against a tree. She couldn’t hear John anymore – for which she was grateful – and she could at least take a breath.

But she couldn’t stay there. Even though she hadn’t been able to catch her breath completely, she forced herself to keep going until she ended on a familiar road – where Pastor Jerome had saved her. Before she knew it, she ended up at the security gate.

Once she was sure she was a fair distance away, she sat down against a tree again, to gather her thoughts. A sound came from her backpack and rummaging through it, she found her radio.

“Dutch?” Evelyn sobbed, her hands shaking as she pressed the ‘talk’ button.

“Holy shit, kid,” Dutch breathed out, relieved, “ I’ve been trying to reach you. ”

“John- he…”

“I know, I’ve heard what happened. I feared the worst, glad you made it out alive. I’m… sorry about Hudson, there’s nothing we can do without John’s key. You’re  gonna have to lure him out, best way to do that is to keep doing what you’ve been  doin ’ ”

“Dutch,” Evelyn interrupted, “C-can… Can you send someone to pick me  up…? Please?”

Silence.

“ Of course, kid,” Dutch finally said, “Stay wherever you are, I’m sending someone. Dutch over.”

Evelyn put the radio back in her backpack and turned her head to look at the sun. It must’ve been close to evening, if she had to judge the sun’s position. Her stomach rumbled and her legs felt numb. She was close to passing out.

So close.

The sound of a car coming woke her up. For a moment she feared the worst –  Peggies – until Nick stepped out of the car. He immediately ran over to her and helped her up. “Jesus Christ dep, thank god you escaped in time,” he said, putting her arm on his shoulder and leading her to his car, picking up her backpack with his free hand.

He  helped her into the passenger seat and gave her  her backpack as he moved to the driver’s seat. “ Take me to… US Auto… My car-“ Evelyn coughed, her voice hoarse.

“Hell no!” Nick declined, “I’m takin’  ya to my place.  Gonna tell Briggs to get your car to my place tomorrow, you’re  gonna eat and sleep at our place.”

“Nick, that  ain’t -“

“Ah  ah ! You can’t say no.”

Unable to find the energy to fight him on the topic, she decided not to and instead decided to watch the trees pass by.

The sun had gone down when they finally arrived. Evelyn was more conscious and able to walk on her own but despite  her claims to be perfectly fine on her own, Nick refused to take her to Earl’s place. “Dutch contacted everyone,” he said, “Boomer’s safe with Mary May, you’re safe with us… Don’t worry,  a’ight ?”

Evelyn stayed quiet for a moment as they walked up to the house. “Thank you,” she finally said.

He patted her shoulder, “It  ain’t a problem.”

“Kim, we’re home!” Nick called out. The first thing Evelyn noticed was the smell. Homemade food…  “Just in time!” Kim smiled , putting a pot of food on the table, “Welcome, Evelyn.”

“Thanks for uh, letting me stay,” she quietly replied.  As Nick moved to put her backpack away in a safer place, Kim walked up to her and  rubbed her arm affectionately. “It’s no problem,” she  said, a certain sad look in her eyes, “You’ve done so much for us… This is the least we could do. Now, dig in!”

Despite Nick and Kim’s best efforts to cheer her up, it didn’t stop Evelyn’s mind from constantly going back to Joey.

Joey was still down there, in that bunker, while John probably went home to sleep in the most comfortable bed in all of Hope County.

Just thinking about what had happened only a few hours ago was enough to fill Evelyn with both anger and sadness. She had to save Joey. She had to save her girlfriend. But at that moment, she felt so, so hopeless. As if she wasn’t sure what to do next.

What if it was already too late?

What if she angered John to the point where he finished the job and killed Joey?

“Evelyn,” Nick pulled her from her thoughts.

Blinking surprisedly, Evelyn looked at him, “Hmm?”

“We were  wonderin ’ if you wanted to  watch a movie with us?”

Evelyn forced a smile, “Sure.”

The clock on the wall told her the time. Nine PM. She wondered how long it took Nick to find her, if more people were looking for her, if any other people had gotten kidnapped by John because of her.

Kim gave her a pillow and a blanket when she and Nick went to bed, but Evelyn couldn’t sleep.

She couldn’t sleep at all,  ‘cause when she closed her eyes, Joey’s cries filled her mind.

After eight cups of water and a trip to the bathroom, she still couldn’t sleep and gave up on the idea.  Instead, she began trying to figure out ways to save Joey until she passed out due to exhaustion.


	4. The Atonement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn refuses to be weakened by John’s kidnapping. In fact, she’s only more determined to put an end to what he’s doing - and to free Joey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited (21/03)

The night passed by agonizingly slow and she hadn’t slept at all. Whenever she closed her eyes, Joey’s cries haunted her. So, instead, she watched the sunrise whilst sitting on the front porch of the Rye’s home, wrapped up in a blanket. That’s how Nick found her.

“Hey dep,” he greeted, sitting down next to her and handing her a cup of coffee, “How  ya doin ’?”

She shrugged, “I  dunno .”

She took a sip of her coffee and cradled the mug in her cold hands. “I… Sorry, I usually… Don’t let myself be like this around other people.”

Nick wrapped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her, “You can’t be strong 24/7, Evelyn, you know that. Besides, Kim ‘n I, we’re glad you  ain’t forcin ’ yourself. You’re allowed to call for help, you know that, right?”

“Nick, we both know this was the first and last time.”

“We’ll see ‘bout that.”

“Anyway… Uh, Kim’s clothes probably won’t fit  ya -“ Nick started but Evelyn interrupted, “Oh, uh, don’t worry. As soon as Merle arrives with my car, I’ll  go home and get refreshed -“

“Nah, you can use our bathroom! I’m sure my  shirt’ll fi t!”

“No, you’ve  alr -“

“Not accepting no’s!”

“Nick -“

He put his fingers in his ears and started singing loudly, making her laugh.

“Fine! Fine!” she relented, tugging on his arm, “ No more no’s, got it. Is that the only thing you and John Seed agree on?”

“Don’t compare me to that asshole,” Nick huffed, grinning and Evelyn smiled, “Sorry, didn’t mean to insult you.”

After getting dressed in a lightly stained shirt of Nick and her own pants, she thanked the Rye’s again before starting with her day.

The first thing she did was take out her anger on silos and outposts she came across – she wanted John Seed to feel her wrath, too, but she was too worried about Joey. So, she spent her morning liberating outposts that dared to play Joey’s torture on the radio.

She hadn’t set foot in Fall’s End at all, and they hadn’t tried contacting her either. She felt awkward entering the Spread Eagle, as if she was back in high school and everyone talked about something ‘cringy’ she did (not that she ever cared, but this was different anyway), but Mary May seemed happy to see her.

“Hey there,” she smiled , “How are you?”

Evelyn shrugged, “Fine. Uh, I was just  wonderin ’ if there’s anything I needed to do?”

“Uh, well first of all I need you to eat lunch and pet Boomer.”

“ You’re lucky I don’t want to argue today.”

“Good,” Mary May grinned, “ Now, the usual?”

She was glad Fall’s End was still the old same. Evelyn never wanted yesterday to happen again. She didn’t like being vulnerable, especially since the Resistance seemed to look up to her. Nick had a point though. She was allowed to be weak, to show weakness…

But she didn’t want to.

“So, job?” Evelyn said, bringing her empty plate to the  bar.

Mary May snickered, “Alright, fine,  Pastor Jerome has  s’thing for  ya , something about a rogue Peggie.”

“ Rogue Peggie?”

“Yeah, someone who wants to leave the cult, really could use your help. Pastor Jerome will fill  ya in.”

“Alright then,” Evelyn sighed, “Thanks for the food, how much -“

“Free, you know it.”

“Mary May, that’s no way to run a business.”

“You just pay back by saving the Valley.”

Evelyn left the Spread Eagle after giving Boomer ten minutes (alright, more than ten minutes) of attention . Hope County needed her and as much as she’d love to, she can’t pet dogs all day.

“Hello Evelyn,” Pastor Jerome greeted her as she entered the church.  “Hey,” Evelyn smiled, “Heard you uh, got  s’thin ’ ‘bout a rogue  Peggie?”

“Yes, indeed, the resistance is transporting a Peggie who wants to leave the cult. They’re hiding him in Silver Lake Trailer Park , but we’re worried about  Peggies catching wind of  him so we want to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

“Silver Lake Trailer Park, you say?” Evelyn hummed.

The pastor nodded.

“Sure,” she said, “ Anything else?”

“No,” he shook his head, “I heard what -“

“Don’t treat me like a toddler,” sighed Evelyn, “Please. I had one moment, alright? I can do this. I can handle more than this, just tell me what I need to do.”

“ I got nothing, I swear,” Pastor Jerome promised, “You’ve helped out in any way possible.”

“Fine,” she sighed, “Silver Lake Trailer Park, got it.”

Silver Lake Trailer Park was close to where she found Boomer. There was also another cult outpost nearby, one she hadn’t liberated yet. It was quite a distance away, but she didn’t mind.

She had to keep her self  busy.

In her whole life, she had never set foot in Silver Lake Trailer Park. Her mother was very wary of the place ever since she heard rumours about drugs and orgies and forbid Evelyn and Jamie from going near the place.

But her best friend and his family lived there so she ignored her mother’s warnings. Besides, her mom was wrong anyway.

Two Resistance members were waiting outside one of the trailers and didn’t see her approach. When  they did, though, they immediately recognized her.

“Oh, deputy!” one of them said, awkwardly fiddling with his hat, “Uh, Pastor Jerome told us you’d come !”

Evelyn smiled uncomfortably.

His friend continued: “Uh, there’s a boat coming to pick up the Peggie but we  ain’t sure when she’s  arrivin ’. We heard  Peggies talkin ’ ‘bout  comin ’ to pick him up so… We need extra protection.”

“That’s why I’m here,” Evelyn pointed out.

“Uh, yeah, of course,” he nodded.

Everything was quiet for half an hour , until one of the radio’s buzzed to life. “ Peggies are coming!  Peggies are coming!”

“ Yo , Annie! The  Peggies are coming!” yelled one of the resistance members. Three more members ran out of the house, “Yeah, we heard! They’re coming from the north!”

Evelyn followed them to the back of the trailer, where a Peggie truck pulled up with five  Peggies . The Resistance made quick work of them by throwing a Molotov cocktail at the car, lighting it on fire.  Peggies tried to flee but were ultimately killed in the explosion.

Another truck pulled up, in front this time and they raced to kill them. It happened extremely fast but ten more  Peggies died. It seemed like they were never  gonna stop coming.

“Shit,” one of them cursed under their breath, “Dep, get the Peggie out of here, the boat’s waiting for  ya ! We’ll cover  ya !”

“Where is he?”

“Inside!”

Annoyed, Evelyn burst through the door of the trailer to see a Peggie tied up on the floor.

She easily lifted him over her shoulder and left the trailer through the backdoor, trying her best to avoid being seen by  Peggies , but  she knew they’d see her one way or another. The Resistance members stayed true to their promise and made sure neither she nor the Peggie was hit.

She helped the Peggie into the boat and watched it leave before she helped the Resistance get rid of the  Peggies .

When they were done, Evelyn left for Gardenview Packing Facility, a cult outpost. It was barely protected. One alarm and only a few Peggies. It was as if they were begging for the outpost to be taken away.

It was  five PM when she returned to Fall’s End. Boomer was patiently waiting outside for her and greeted her when he saw her.

She ate dinner and went home . To Earl Whitehorse’s house.

And something felt wrong. It was empty, too empty. As if  Peggies were lurking around the corner ready to kidnap her whenever John asked them to.

She tried pushing those thoughts aside and went to bed, trying her best to keep her mind  off of Joey.

The next day was similar and was filled with outposts. She had just finished taking Kellet’s Cattle & Co when Mary May called her about a truck called the  Revelator ,  plowing through Resistance roadbl ocks . She wasn’t sure how she could help, but when she arrived, they gave her a  rocket launcher she could use on the truck.

She had never used a rocket launcher before but prayed she was doing it right.

Her prayers had been answered when the truck exploded before even reaching the roadblock, thanks to her and two other Resistance members with rocket launchers.

“You can keep it if you want,” said the man who gave her the rocket launcher, but she politely declined.

She preferred a more… Quiet approach.

She was walking around, waiting for a call when h er radio made another sound . She was expecting a new job, only to be met by disappointment.

“ Your actions have consequences, deputy. I’ve gathered your friends  all your friends here in Fall’s End to Atone for your  sins. You’re welcome to join us. After all, if it weren’t for you , they wouldn’t be in this predicament,” he taunted, “This is your last chance to say yes, deputy. Don’t be late.”

“Listen you piece of shit,” she growled as she pressed the talk-button, “Let my friends go . If you want me to atone for my goddamn sins, come pick me up but leave my friends alone.”

“Ah  ah ah !” he clicked his tongue, “ I won’t fall for that. Come to Fall’s End, or your friends will pay the price.”

She cursed under her breath as John left her channel. She was near the orchard, and Fall’s End was miles away. She had to hurry. Cursing numerous times, she ran over to her car and  jumped in, immediately starting her car. She turned off her radio, not in the mood for music as she raced to the town .

She broke several speed laws and nearly crashed her car several times as she  desperately tried to get to Fall’s End as quick as possible.

The town itself was abandoned. Hell, the Spread Eagle ’s doors were all blocked and  so were the windows.

It was hauntingly quiet as Evelyn parked her car next to the bar . She felt strange as she walked  through the town. She felt even stranger when she saw the red carpet leading up to the church, white flower petals covering it.

“Fuckin’ asshole,” she whispered under her breath, “All this, for me?”

He was waiting for her in the  church, for her ‘Atonement’.

But if it was up to her, it’d end here and now.

Yet, something made her feel… Uncertain, as if danger was lurking just around the corner. Knowing John, Evelyn knew to trust her gut feeling. That didn’t help her when  a Peggie slammed the butt of his rifle against her head as soon as she opened the door, knocking her unconscious.

When she came to, she heard buzzing. She saw a Peggie standing over her, holding her down with his heel digging into her shoulder and th ere was a slight sting on he r chest, as if someone was  dragging a pen over her skin. Groaning, she opened her eyes to see John Seed leaning over her body, a tattoo gun in his hand.

He was fucking tattooing her.

She tried to push him off, but he quickly stopped her attempts and said : “Hold still. It’s supposed to say ‘Wrath’ not… Rat.”

Gritting her teeth, she t ried not to move as the Peggie stepped  off of her as John began speaking.

“Sin  must be exposed so  i t may be absolved. If we hide our sin, we hide ourselves…” he muttered , “ You will not hide any longer .  Your true self will spill out on this floor for all to see.”

He finally lifted the tattoo gun and Evelyn felt the pressure disappear. “Ahh, perfect,” John breathed out, smiling proudly and she wanted to wipe the smirk off his face. He finally stood up, allowing her to sit up as well. A small group of  Peggies was sitting on the benches as three stood in  front, holding back Nick, Mary May and Pastor Jerome .

“If Moham med won’t come to the mountain, then bring the mountain to Mohammed,” he sighed, relieved , and opened his arms wide as he walked backwards. He turned around to face Evelyn’s friends and announced: “Let’s begin!”

A Peggie, with dirty hair, handed him a book before walking up to Evelyn and pulling her up to her feet. He pushed her to the rest of her friends, who flashed her a  look of remorse , before Nick and Mary May were forcefully turned around to face  Pastor Jerome, who was holding his bible.

John, who was holding the Book of Joseph, which looked  similar to Jerome’s bible, slammed it against Pastor Jerome’s chest before throwing his bible on the floor. The book hit the ground with a thud and nearly hit Mary May’s foot.

“I thought a friendly face might make your Atonement  easier,” John said, as Mary May turned around and said a quick ‘sorry’ before a Peggie pushed her shoulder.

“Our devoted,” John whispered in Pastor Jerome’s ear, holding him by the back of his neck . He didn’t repeat what John said, even when a Peggie nudged his shoulder with a gun.

“We are gathered here to bear witness…” John tried again, to no avail.

He sighed, nodded at the Peggie holding his gun against Pastor Jerome’s head and stepped away. The Peggie slammed his gun against Pastor Jerome’s head, which resulted in him falling to the ground .

“You son of a bitch!” yelled Mary May as she moved to hit John Seed in his face, only to be held back by a Peggie. The Peggie who slammed his gun against Pastor Jerome’s head did the same to Mary May, to which she gasped in pain. Evelyn looked down to see Pastor Jerome push the Book of Joseph away in favour of his own bible and remembered how he hid a handgun in a book back when he saved her at the security gate.

She knew what he was doing. He wanted to end it here and now.

John laughed as Pastor Jerome stood up, “Let’s try that again.”

He pushed Pastor Jerome lightly and repeated: “Our devoted. We are gathered here to bear witness. ”

“Our devoted. We are gathered here to bear witness.” Pastor Jerome grunted.

“ To those willing to atone for their sins . Will you, Nick Rye, place your hand upon The Word of Joseph …”

Pastor Jerome repeated John’s every word, up until Nick interrupted.

“ Oh fuck that,” he cursed, “Nah, I  ain’t ever giving in to that  psychopath.”

John pulled Pastor Jerome away, who stumbled backwards,  and shook his head, disappointed. “There it is, Greed… Always thinking of yourself,” he said.

Nick spat in his face and John wiped it off, showing no  particular emotion . He suddenly grabbed Nick’s shoulders and leaned in close, whispering something in Nick’s ear which made him visibly calm down.

“Nick?” John said once he pulled away.

He looked like he was going to vomit.

“Yes,” he nodded, “I will Atone.”

John raised his hand and was given a knife by one of the  Peggies . Evelyn watched in confusion  but everyone else seemed to know what was going on.

When the  Peggies pulled Nick down  and John leaned over him, she knew what he was about to do. S h e, just like  Pastor Jerome and Mary May, struggled against the  Peggies as John cut into Nick’s skin. The pilot cried out in pain , his legs kicking as a Peggie held him down by his shoulders.

Evelyn was close to pushing the Peggie  off of her when John stood up again, proudly holding Nick’s flesh in his hands. One of the  Peggies who held down Nick tended to the wound as John eagerly  pinned the piece of skin to the church’s wall.

“That! Is the power of Yes!” he yelled, “The power to take away your sins! The power to set you free!”

He wiped the blood of his hands as Pastor Jerome met Evelyn’s eyes. They shared a knowing look and they both understood.

It’d end. Today.

“Will you, Deputy, place your hand upon The Word of Joseph ,” John said, once he walked back to Pastor Jerome.

He lifted the book and looked at her, full of determination, as he repeated John’s words.

“Will you, Evelyn McDaniel, place your hand upon The Word of Joseph,”

“And renounce your sins and admit your transgression s. ”

“And renounce your sins and admit your transgressions.”

Evelyn deeply breathed in through her nose as her eyes flicked between  Pastor Jerome and John. She had one sh ot. She had to make it count.

“Say yes,” Pastor Jerome  said.

“Yes,” she finally muttered,  moving her hand to the bible  and touching it, softly, so that when Pastor Jerome flipped open the cover, she could easily take out the gun. She had a clear shot and probably would’ve hit him too, if it weren’t for the  Peggie pulling on her hand so the bullet went right between Pastor Jerome and John.

The Peggie pushed her arms sideways as two other  Peggies helped John escape the church. “Get John to his ranch! Move!” one of them yelled. The Peggie who prevented her from shooting tried to follow, only for Mary May to get the jump on him and knock him out.  She spotted her backpack near the door and made a run for it after throwing the pistol back to Jerome.

Peggies were waiting outside, ready to defend John who’d already left in a hurry.  Pastor Jerome and Mary May joined her outside, helping her with the  Peggies , when Jerome called out: “I’ll take care of Nick, you go with Mary and finish this!”

Evelyn gave him a nod before quickly following Mary May to a car with a machine gun in the back. “You get the machine gun, I’ll drive,” she said.

With that, Mary May started the car and drove to Seed Ranch.

Peggies were prepared though and even sent out planes, as if the cars and quads weren’t enough already. The planes were harder for Evelyn to take out than the  cars, but they weren’t the best shooters anyway and before she knew it, they were already nearing John’s ranch. Even there the  Peggies were waiting, prepared.

They were driving past the airstrip when  they saw a plane fly into the air. A plane that  definitely didn’t belong to any normal Peggie. No, it was John Seed’s plane – and he was in it. Evelyn was going to have to chase him down.

“You get on the plane!” Mary May instructed as she parked the car in front of the hangar, “I’ll hold ‘ em off!”

“You sure?”

“Yes! Just go!”

Evelyn made a  beeline for the  silver plane waiting for her, as if John Seed knew she was coming – which he probably did. She dodged bullets left and right  as she finally jumped on the wing and into the front seat, starting up the plane.  She could make out a tiny dot in the distance.

Target found.

As she finally flew above the trees, she spotted a familiar, yellow plane. Its pilot saluted her.

Nick Rye.

She saluted back and focussed on her main objective: John fucking Seed.

“Let’s get this son of a bitch!” Nick yelled through the radio. She assumed the channel the planes were connected to  was a general one, since she also heard John when he taunted Nick.

“Nick Rye…  Have you already forgotten what I told  you—”

“FUCK YOU! You’re a goddamn demon and we’re  gonna send  you straight back to hell!” Nick yelled back.

“My, my, my, how contagious wrath can be. I’ll just  have to kill you both,” John said confidently.

By now, Evelyn had gotten close enough to shoot his plane and managed to land a few shots, but not enough to take him down.

“Actually, John, you’ll be the one to die ,” she grunted, landing a few more shots.

She heard John swear under his breath as he turned his plane, but Evelyn quickly followed. Nick flew over her, shooting John’s plane a few times.

“The Father gave you a chance for salvation and you threw it away ,” John said through gritted teeth, “Look at what you’ve done. LOOK AT THE  WRATH YOU HAVE WROUGHT!”

“It’s easy to pass the blame on to me,” Evelyn replied, firing more bullets and forcing John’s plane to turn, “ What about you, huh? So many people dead and  you and your fucking cult make it look like accidents.”

“You know all about accidents, don’t you?” John bit back, “Just like your father’s… Accident.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened as she realized what John was talking about. It only angered her more and made her more determined to put an end to this sick fuck. Nick stayed quiet, which she was grateful for, but still landed some shots here and there.

Smoke was coming from John’s plane and Evelyn knew she was close to  destroying it.

When it started twirling, she knew John was done for .

“ Aghh ! No! NO! I’m losing control! I’ve ha -“

Then  she saw him jump out with a damn parachute. “Damn it!” she cursed under her breath, “Nick, who’s plane is this?”

“John’s, as far as I know.”

“Good ,” she said, searching below the seat f or a parachute. She tried controlling the plane as she  swung the backpack over her shoulders, over the one she was already wearing. With that, she took a deep breath  and opened the window of the plane . She jumped out and watched as the plane started spiralling out of control before looking for John.

She spotted his blue and orange parachute and dove for it , opening her parachute when she came too close to the ground for comfort. He had already landed and left his parachute by the tim e she landed too, but she could still see him. He was running over the road , radio in hand.

“Brothers. Sisters. Do not fear. We have prepared for this . The Father has shown us the way. Prepare my bunker. I am coming to join you… We will await the Collapse  together.”

“John Seed!” Evelyn yelled, running after him quickly.  His head  turned, eyes wide before he broke into a full on sprint.  “ Oh like hell you are,” she grunted, catching up to him quickly. She pulled out her handgun and shot hi m, not knowing where the bullet hit. But he collapsed against the ground and that was good enough for her.

She lifted the body, putting it over her shoulder as she walked to the side of the road so cars wouldn’t hit him. His body landed in the mud, splattering some over her clothes but she couldn’t afford to care. He was still moving.

She didn’t  really care about that either as she moved to rip the key from his neck. Before she could, though, he tightly grasped her wrist , making her gasp.

“What if Joseph is right?” he said quickly, his voice quiet, “Did you ever stop to think about that? Everyone thinks he’s crazy, but he’s not. ”

Evelyn shook her head. Despite that, John  still continued .

“Look around you. This world is on the brink. You can feel it in your bones. Look at the headlines, look at  who is in charge!” he  coughed , barely breathing , “You want this key because you think you’re saving people , but they are already safe . We had a plan.”

“You and your goddamn family keeps talking about saving people,” Evelyn grumbled, “Then why are so many people dying at your hands? Why are so many people being kidnapped, tortured? Kicked out of their own damn homes or forcefully removed? I’m the one who’s  gonna save Hope County, or I’ll die trying;”

John shook his head. “You don’t understand,” he said, “You don’t believe. You don’t  care!”

Finally, he pulled her hand away, which resulted into the necklace holding the key ripping , “May God have mercy on your soul.”

With a final cough, he  fell down into the mud again , and didn’t get up. Evelyn stood up and looked at him, prepared to put him down if he tried to move again.

But that was it.

John Seed was dead.

“Deputy?” Pastor Jerome interrupted her thoughts through her radio, “I don’t know what to say… John Seed terrorized this valley for so long… Never thought I’d see the  end of him. But it  ain’t done yet. Hudson and everyone else trapped in John’s bunker  need to be rescued. I’ll round up whoever I  can and meet you there, but you need to go now. There’s  no telling what Eden’s Gate will do to them after all  this. ”

“I… I think I’m nearby,” Evelyn said, looking at her surroundings and recognizing the road from when Nick picked her up.

“Okay, we’ll meet you there once you saved everyone.”

The walk up to John’s Bunker was long and filled her with dread. Worries started entering her mind. What if Joey was dead? What if she couldn’t save everyone?

She desperately tried to push those thoughts away as she neared the bunker.  Peggies were indeed waiting but not as much as she’d expected. On ly six of them, two of which were snipers.

Taking them out was easy.

She ran to the bunker door, desperately trying to find out how to unlock it when she saw a red button and a keyhole on the wall next to the door. She inserted the key, turned it and pressed the button .

“Bunker access: granted” said a computer voice.

Evelyn sighed in relief as she rushed to open the bunker door. She heard  Peggies yelling as she braced herself for the endless flight of stairs. At the end was a large dorm room where she’d fought  Peggies before – and where she’d have to fight them again. This time, they were more prepared, though.

She took advantage of her surroundings to hide from the  Peggies . When she killed the first Peggie, the shot echoed through the room and they knew she was around.  As they panicked, she killed them.

After clearing the room, she moved on. Instead of going the way she came from, days ago, she moved to where John took Joey, now that she was able to open the door.

There were more  Peggies waiting for h er , but she managed to take them out easily. She followed the hallways until she found a control room. There was a cell nearby with people locked up but, seeing as she didn’t see Joey’s raven hair, she ignored them for now. Joey first.

In the control room was an open door and she took her chances. She was led to a basement, filled with more cult shit and dead bodies which she tried to ignore.

She eventually entered a room with two bodies –  Peggies \- sitting on chairs, one of which was holding a painting of Joseph Seed. Focussed on the bodies, she didn’t see a shadow move. She did see how Joey lunged at her with a broken shard of glass. She managed to block Joey’s arms at first, pushing her into a corner and holding the knife-wielding arm down.

Evelyn’s face was soon met with Joey’s fist and she pulled back, still holding on to Joey’s arm as she stumbled backwards. Joey turned them around, landing against one of the bodies and knocking them over before she managed to tackle Evelyn, which made them land on the metal floor.  Joey made a move to stab again and it was only then that Evelyn noticed she had her eyes closed.

“Joey!” Evelyn yelled out over her girlfriend’s groans, “Joey, it’s me!”

Joey finally opened her eyes as she stopped trying to stab Evelyn.

“Evie?” she breathed out, eyes wide , “It’s you, oh god, oh god,”

She finally climbed  off of her, allowing her to sit up.

“I didn’t think you’d come back,” Joey admitted, sobbing.

“Joey, you… You’re my girlfriend,” Evelyn softly whispered, putting her hand on Joey’s shoulder, “I’d go through hell and back for you, you know that.”

Joey looked at her for a moment before pulling her close and hugging her tightly, sobbing into her neck. Evelyn pressed a kiss against her temple and softly rubbed her back.

“Something… Something started happening,” she  said, breathing quickly as she pulled away from Evelyn, “ All the… All the fucking  Peggies started scrambling  around. All the doors started closing, locking us inside… ”

“ I… I thought I was…  Gonna be down here… Forever,” Joey said through quick breaths and Evelyn noticed all the bruises on her face.

“Hey, hey,” Evelyn muttered, brushing her hand over Joey’s hair, “Calm down, you’re… You’re safe now. John’s dead, okay? I’m here to save you and… And everyone else.”

Evelyn helped her stand up and watched as she walked over to the painting of Joseph.

“All… All because of him! ” she said, pointing the sharp object  at the painting, “That fucking… ”

She walked over to the painting and slammed it against the ground, “Fucking  piece of shit!”

Shards flew everywhere, but Joey didn’t seem to mind as she  kneeled down in front of the painting.  Evelyn carefully walked closer as Joey cried out. “He would come down here and he would just stand there and watch ,” she said, “ We were begging for mercy and he would just… fucking… watch. ”

She roughly pushed the painting aside as Evelyn hugged her from behind. “I won’t let him get away with this,” she promised.

“The others…” Joey whispered, “There were other people down here with me .”

“Yeah, they’re… They’re in cells, upstairs.”

Joey looked at her, eyes filled with determination. “We are  gonna get them out. And then we are  gonna burn  this whole fucking place down.”

Evelyn nodded, “Let’s go.”

Joey took her hand and Evelyn eagerly welcomed the touch as they walked through the basement, up the stairs to the control room. She eventually let go of Evelyn’s hand and ran to a laptop near some screens. “The rooms are grouped together by section,” she explained, reading whatever was on the screen, “Damn it!”

“What?”

“It’s safeguarded against a global lock release,” she groaned, “I’ll have to do one section at a time.”

Evelyn nodded. “I’ll go check on the cells, I saw two of them…  Stay here, okay?”

Before Evelyn could leave, Joey called her name. Pressing a quick kiss against her lips, Joey whispered: “Stay safe, okay ? We’re leaving this place  together, don’t you dare die.”

“There’s no way in hell I’m  dyin ’ without kissing you properly and you know that,” Evelyn cheekily smirked. Joey flashed her a small smile before letting her go. Her first destination was the cell she saw earlier.  With a simple switch, the doors  opened and they were free.

She hoped the entire bunker would be that easy, but unlucky for her, shouts ruined that thought quickly.

Peggies were on their way.

At least they were all running through one  hallway so it was easy for her to shoot them with the rifle.

At the end of the hallway was another  cell which was also easy to open.

“Evie? Evie is that you?” her radio buzzed to life.

“Yup!” Evelyn replied to Joey, popping the ‘p’.

“Great,” she sighed in relief, “ One of the sections is tied  to another control room. I can’t free the locks from  here, can you find the other control room?”

“Fine, because you’re asking so nicely.”

“Thanks, Evie.”

She walked back to the way she came when Joey spoke again. “Wait, wait, wait! The control room is locked.  Uh… I’m lowering a  platform, you’ll need to climb your way up.”

“Ah, so this is your way of making me exercise?”

“Evie,” Joey said, sternly, but Evelyn could hear the amusement in her voice.

She stepped onto the platform in the missile launch silo and looked down where she  saw a large pool of water – and a door. She jumped down on a platform to her left, landing on her feet and hands. She sat at the edge on the side and jumped down onto a longer platform that led to the door.

She entered a circular hallway and followed the left path, which led her to a room full of consoles.

“Jo,” she said, speaking into her radio, “ What does this control room look like?”

“Uh, like a bunch of consoles. Destroy them, okay?”

“You got it.”

She looked through her backpack for bombs and found two remote control explosives. She quietly praised herself as she installed them on both sides of the room. She had just left the room when voices caught her attention.

Peggies .

“Hey assholes, in here!” she loudly yelled. The voices stopped and footsteps drew near. Just as they were about to reach her,  she pressed the button on her remote and the consoles exploded (and so did the  Peggies .)

“I’m guessing that  explosion was you?”

“Hell yeah,” Evelyn proudly  replied. Joey chuckled.

An alarm started to go off and Evelyn’s smile disappeared. “ Shit, I  gotta get out, I’ll see you later, okay?”

She made a run for the missile launch silo and started climbing her way up. One of the platforms seemed to be stuck though. She decided to risk it.

Her hands clung to the top of the platform as she pressed her hand against the lock keeping it in place. After a small struggle, she managed to open it and the platform slowly lowered, allowing her to climb up. She soon reached another open door, where she was met with two  Peggies .

One of them held her from behind while the other tried to attack, only to get a foot to his balls before she knocked her head back into the Peggie’s face behind her, freeing her.

“Evie, did you reach the top?”

“Yes, I’m there right now, why?”

“Okay, there should be a room where the cult stores all their fuel and Bliss tanks ,” Joey explained, “ You should reach the top of the silo, so can you blow up the Bliss and fuel while you’re there?”

“Of course,” Evelyn  hummed, “I think Pastor Jerome should be outside, waiting for us so I’ll meet you outside, alright?”

“See you outside,” Joey confirmed , a tone of relief in her voice.

Evelyn walked through the hallways filled with  P eggies she quickly disposed off by shooting the fuel tanks, which in turn blew up the bliss tanks as well.

She checked to make sure the Bliss was gone before walking through another door, leading to a staircase.

“Nearly there,” she whispered. Running up the stairs, she entered the top of the silo.

The alarm only got louder and louder as she walked through a  small hallway before ending up in a circular room.

“Evelyn, back  up’s on its way,” Pastor Jerome said through the radio, “Where are you now?”

“I’m in the missile launcher silo. At the top,” Evelyn yelled over the loud alarm, “I’m  gonna try and open it, ”

“Alright, we’re  gonna try and get up there with a helicopter. Open the  launcher and we’ll pick you up.”

Opening the silo hatch was easy. Fighting the  Peggies who were coming her way was not.  Because of the loud alarm, she could barely hear the  Peggies coming and was constantly startled by them. Hell, when they started attacking from the top of the silo, she didn’t even see them at first. The fire that was spreading  definitely wasn’t helping either. The alarm, mixed with the fire and threats from  Peggies was just about to get too much for her when s he finally saw the helicopter.

But no way to reach it with all the fire.

Then she spotted a ladder. She had to run and jump but she reached the  ladder nonetheless.

A Peggie, in a desperate attempt, clung to her leg but she quickly kicked her in the face and climbed up the ladder. She had to jump if she wanted to reach the helicopter.

Everything moved in slow motion. She was terrified but if this was the only way out, she had to take it.

And she landed in the helicopter, watching as they flew away from the exploding silo. People from the resistance were at the bridge, cheering and waving at the helicopter.

Evelyn noticed Joey who waved at her and she happily waved back, wiping the sweat of her forehead. “ Great job, deputy!” said a resistance member, handing her a flask filled with water. She gulped it down quickly and muttered a hoarse ‘Thanks.’

‘We’re  gonna drop you off at that mountain again, but someone’ll be there waiting for you to drive you back to Fall’s End.”

Evelyn nodded, and looked back at the resistance, who were enjoying their victory.

She wasn’t sure how long it took her to save Joey, but she did know it was  nighttime and despite the feeling of exhaustion, she wanted to celebrate.

And kiss Joey, too.

Loud music played  in Fall’s End – well, in all of Holland Valley, really, and it made Evelyn smile. One third of Hope County was safe. She still had more to do, but she had helped and that’s what mattered the most to her.

“Thanks,” Evelyn said to the driver, “ Wanna come in and celebrate?”

“Nah, I got a husband and daughter to celebrate with,” the driver said, a smile flashing across his face. Evelyn smiled back, “Have fun.”

Sighing, she walked up to the Spread Eagle and walked through the door. She had never seen the Spread Eagle so full before (then again, this was a special occasion.)

Nick was the first to notice her and immediately handed her a bottle of beer, which made Evelyn assume he was waiting for her. “Goddamn,” he smiled, “I  ain’t never seen anything like that before.  Thank you!”

Evelyn smiled as they clinked their  bottles together , “Looked pretty badass huh?”

“Thanks,” Pastor Jerome said, walking up to her as Nick turned back to Mary May , “I knew we saved you for a reason.”

“And I’m still very grateful for that, thank you.”

“Hey!” Mary May called out, and Evelyn walked towards the bar . “You have us something back  we thought we’d never have again,” she smiled, “Hope. Thank you… You’re getting free drinks tonight.”

Evelyn chuckled, “Gee, I’ll have to save the day more often huh?”

Mary May shot her a grin before tending to other customers. A hand on Evelyn’s lower back caught her attention and turning her head, she came face to face with Joey.

“Hey,” she  said and Evelyn said a small ‘hello’ back.

“That was… A hell of a job,” Joey said, “The way I see it, you’re the one in charge now. And… If you ever need anything, you just let me know .”

Evelyn smiled and looked her in the eyes, “I have everything I want right here… A beer.”

Joey rolled her eyes, “Wow, you sure know your way around the ladies.”

She chuckled, “Ah shush, you know I meant you.”

Evelyn leaned in close and hugged Joey, before returning to enjoy the party. Grace had come briefly, as well, to thank her and for the rest of the night, she was constantly thanked by resistance members – but she stayed modest  and also mentioned Joey… Although that was just so she could brag about her girlfriend.

It was past midnight when the party had ended and most of the people had gone. Evelyn was still wide awake, though. Boomer sat by her legs as she sat outside the Spread Eagle, drinking some water to prevent a hangover in the morning.

The door opened and someone joined her, sitting in a chair next to her. She wasn’t surprised to see it was Joey.

“Hey,” Evelyn quietly said.

Joey smiled at her, “Hey you… it’s late.”

“It… Sure is,” She dryly laughed, “I should go home.”

“You still live with Whitehorse?”

“Yup. Well, me ‘n Boomer.”

Joey put her hand on Evelyn’s arm and bit her lip.

“Why don’t you… Stay over at my place? And… Take some stuff with you,” she hesitantly  asked and Evelyn grinned: “Joey Hudson, are you asking me to move in with you,”

“And what if I am?”

“I’d love that…”

They looked each other in the eyes for a moment before it was interrupted by Evelyn’s radio.

A voice she wasn’t prepared for came over the radio.

“Rookie?”

Evelyn, startled, quickly pressed the talk button: “Earl?!”

“Thank god,” he breathed out, “Is it true? Is John Seed dead?”

“Yeah, he… He is! Where are you?!”

“Don’t worry ‘bout me, do you have any idea where Pratt is? ‘n Hudson?”

“I’m right here, Sheriff,” Joey said, frowning.

“Good,” he quickly said, “I… Haven’t heard from Pratt, at all.”

“ D’ya think he’s in danger?”

“Might be.”

“Uh… Listen, I’ll check up on him, alright? And… Where are you?!”

“I can’t tell you right now. Make sure Pratt’s okay.”

With that, the call ended.

Evelyn and Joey stared at each other, shocked. Joey was the first to break their little staring contest when she looked away and said: “Geez… you just saved Holland Valley and already have to worry about everything else, huh,”

“Guess I do,” Evelyn groaned , “I can’t believe our colleagues joined those fucks. Nancy, Rebekah…” . J oey put her arm around her shoulder and sighed, “Let’s go home ‘n sleep first, alright?”

Joey lived close to Fall’s End , so they didn’t have to worry about driving and instead walked all the way home. Boomer followed them and curiously investigated Joey’s house as they both  fell down on the couch.

“God, I must stink,” Evelyn sighed, looking at her dirty clothes. “You do,” Joey snickered, “ But… I’m glad you saved me,”

“Me too,” she quietly said, “I… I  really missed you…”

“I missed you too,” Joey muttered, “We… We’ve been together for a while now, so… God, I missed you a lot. Because… Because I love you.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened and a smile appeared on her face, “Joey, are you… -“

“Dead serious.”

“I love you too!”

Evelyn immediately leaned in and kissed Joey, their lips moving in sync.

“I’m guessing… We’re finally official now?” Joey asked once Evelyn pulled away.

Evelyn couldn’t stop smiling as she nodded, “I hope so.”

Joey kissed her again. And again, and again and again…

“I’m not tired…” Evelyn noted, her forehead resting against Joey’s  chest as they cuddled on the couch. “We  caaaan … watch a movie?”

“Okay, which one?” Evelyn asked as Joey turned on the tv.

Neither had the time to react when Joseph’s face appeared on screen. He was sitting close to the camera and a pink light lit up his features. Evelyn and Joey immediately sat up as  Joseph began to speak.

“A seal has been opened… My brother John was loved by few. Feared by many. Misunderstood by all… Except me…  John was not born a monster. He was just a child when our family was torn apart. He was loving. Kind. Full of joy… He was easily preyed upon. John was not perfect. Sometimes he was not even good.  But he was my brother . And those responsible for his death will be punished.  I promise you that.”

The screen cut to black and Evelyn let out a chuckle of disbelief.

“You think this is funny?” Joey asked.

“Uh, yeah,” Evelyn shrugged, “Asshole thinks he can threaten me ‘n shit. As if. Especially when  we’re celebrating .”

Joey put her head on Evelyn’s shoulder, “Evie, please… Who knows what he’s  gonna do…?”

“He’s  gonna watch me put my foot up his ass, that’s for sure.”

“Evie!”

Despite her scolding tone, Joey was still smiling. Evelyn couldn’t help but kiss her lips, “Let’s just… Enjoy the time we have now, alright?”

“You’re right,” Joey hummed, “We should sleep,  don’tcha think?”

Evelyn nodded, “You’re right, we should.”


	5. The World is Weak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After saving Joey and Holland Valley, Sheriff Whitehorse contacted Evelyn to ask her if she could check up on Staci.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unedited  
> Sorry for the long wait, I have nothing to say except I was just not motivated to write :')

When she woke up that morning, she wasn’t expecting to end up in a random room, forced to watch pictures of wolves and deer carcasses. All she wanted to do was make sure Pratt was alright, not watch Jacob Seed’s creepy-as-fuck slideshow.

Her day started good, great actually.

A smile appeared on her face when memories of last night filled her mind. Her hands cupped the arms around her waist and she turned her head to kiss Joey on the cheek.

“Hng… What time is it?” Joey grumbled lazily.

Evelyn turned to lie on her back and yawned, “It’s late. I need to go see what’s up with Staci.”

Joey pressed a light kiss against Evelyn’s  shoulder and sighed, “Really? You can’t even take a day off?”

Evelyn  reached up and softly brushed her hand against Joey’s cheek. “ I dunno, I don’t think  saving Hope County offers any vacation days.”

She frowned and  hid her face in the crook of Evelyn’s neck, “I’m… Just… Worried, Evie.”

“I know,” Evelyn sighed, “I mean, you can always join me?”

“Or we can leave and get the entire goddamn army?”

“And while we’re gone Joseph Seed kills everyone? No thanks,”

“I just… Don’t want you to put yourself in danger.”

Evelyn deeply inhaled and sat up , Joey following her movements.

“I know but…”  she closed her eyes, “ Someone needs to save Hope County ‘n… The Resistance looks to me to do it.”

“ E vie, you’re still hu man,” Joey murmured, her head resting on Evelyn’s shoulder, “You can’t… Be a one woman army 24/7.”

“I-“

“ I know I can’t stop you from… Risking your life ‘n shit but,” Joey swallow ed the lump in her throat, “Please stay safe, for my sake.”

“Of course,” Evelyn sigh ed , “ I’ll just… Kick Jacob’s ass and come back!”

She  rolled her eyes, “So… You’ll be gone the entire day? What am I gonna do without you, Evie?”

“ You can enjoy your uh… Vacation, I guess?”

“Hmm… Give me the key to the Sheriff’s house.”

Evelyn, who stood up from the bed and stretched, looked at her. “Uh, sure, anything else, like my wallet or phone?” she chuckled, blinking in surprise.

“ No buuut if you want, I can take a few of your clothes  so you can actually wear your own clothes instead of taking mine ,” Joey grinned, sitting on her knees on the bed.

Evelyn smirked as she crossed the small distance between them.  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were planning on stealing my clothes ,” she noted.

“Hmm, I do love that bomber jacket of yours,” Joey teased, wrapping her arms around her girlfriend’s neck, “Besides, I gave you my  shirt AND my shorts! I slept in my underwear for you!”

Evelyn leaned in close and smirked. “You didn’t seem to mind much,” she murmured. Joey smiled at her and pressed a kiss against her lips, “Maybe, but still: MY shorts.”

She playfully rolled her eyes . “Fine.  You’ll get your precious shorts back,” she said,  “ I’ m gonna get ready.”

Joey’s bathroom was both clean and a mess at the same time. The toilet, bathtub, sink, mirror etc. were clean, but  toothbrushes,  bottles of all kinds of creams,  deodorants … were all thrown in a small pile near the sink.

She explained Evelyn about the spare toothbrush the evening before , stating she was glad she found someone to use it. Evelyn already felt at home. It still felt surreal, though. Just yesterday, Evelyn had saved her from a sociopath’s  bunker and now they were living together. Like a couple. A real, official couple.

Staring in the mirror, she focussed on the bags under her days which made her look like she hadn’t slept in years. Despite that, she felt more awake than ever. She put the stack of clothes down on a chair next to the toilet and  let the sink run full with warm water.

Evelyn tugged the hair tie out of her  blonde hair and  let out a breathy laugh at  her messy hairstyle. Using Joey’s hairbrush, she quickly  fixed her hair and put it into a messy, low bun.

After washing herself and putting on clothes she found in Joey’s closet, she found her girlfriend missing from the bedroom.  Walking into the  living room/kitchen, she found Joey making coffee.

Evelyn leaned against the counter and took in the sight of her girlfriend. Joey, in only a thin top and panties, humming under her breath as she  worked with the coffee machine.

“I can see you staring, you know that right?”

“I’m just appreciating the masterpiece in front of me.”

Joey huffed, smiling. “That’s corny, even for you,” 

Evelyn crossed her arms, “You love it though.”

Joey walked up to her and set down two cups of coffee on the counter next to her before kissing her softly. “You’re right, I do.”

With that, she took her mug and walked to the couch where Boomer was sleeping. Evelyn drank her coffee quickly and  walked ov er to  the couch . She felt weird, already leaving Joey at home – their home –  even though she literally just moved in. Then again, the entire situation was weird. You don’t fight a cult everyday, after all.

She rummaged through her backpack, which was  leaning against the back of the couch , and pulled out her keys. She  pulled the key to Sheriff Whitehorse’s house  off the ring and handed it over to Joey, “Here,  there should also be some dogfood in the kitchen but I can always  pick something up from the store.”

She pressed a kiss against Joey’s forehead, who blissfully closed her eyes, a smile on her face.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll find it,” she hummed, “Besides, I think Boomer and I will get along so maybe he can accompany me.”

“You’re already replacin’ me with Boomer?”

“ Pfft, don’t you have a county to save? Now leave before I  try to change your mind again.”

“Yes ma’am!” Evelyn jokingly saluted , slinging her backpack over her shoulder and leaving the house.

Fall’s End wasn’t far, luckily. Evelyn had left her car there, since neither she nor Joey were deemed fit to drive last night and walked to her  house instead . Neither of them could believe it. John Seed was dead and Joey, along with everyone else locked up in his bunker, was at home, safe.

Evelyn  felt a sense of pride whenever she thought of how pissed of Joseph Seed was. All in all, though, she hadn’t felt much regret when John Seed dropped dead.  He deserved it. He tortured innocent  people,  killed innocent people…

She was gonna have to do a lot of paperwork after this.

It’s been a while since she went into the mountains . If she had to guess, she’d say she was still a teenager when she went. She and her father would sometimes go on hikes  during vacations, much to her mother’s worrying.

That’s how it’s always has been. Evelyn and her father, Jamie and his mother.

Hope County had lots of  signs, warning hikers of animals and  other dangers. Still, Evelyn’s memories of the Whitetail Mountains was vague and she wouldn’t be surprised if she got lost a few times.  At least she still had Dutch’s map. There was also  the map she got from her mother over a decade ago, which was already outdated at the time . She  got it just before she and her father left for one of their hikes and the only reason she hadn’t thrown it away yet was because she  forgot and later kept it as a memory when her mother disappeared.

The entrance to the Mountains felt familiar – so did the large deer statue that’d been there before she was born – but anything beyond it felt stra nge, as if she’d entered an entirely different location.

She drove past so many horrors. Bodies hanging from poles and  houses ,  innocen t people burned  alive,  crashed cars set on fire…  She thought John was sadistic, but  Evelyn knew Jacob didn’t seem much better. It made her wonder how bad Rachel, or well, Faith would be.

Strange how life works. One second you’re  in English class with your crush and suddenly she’s part of the cult whose leader you’re about to arrest.

She reached one of the many overlooks that gave the most amazing view of the mountains and parked her car there to get her radio.

“Dutch? I’m in the Mountains right now. You uh… Got any news on Staci?”

It took him a moment to reply. The radio buzzed and finally she heard his voice. “Hmm, no, nothin’… Looks like you’ll have to lure Jacob out to find out more,”  said Dutch, “You’ll need to meet Eli and the rest of the Whitetail Militia , my niece Jess can help you out.”

“Sure,” Evelyn sighed, “Where can I find her?”

“Last thing I heard is that she’s in that lumber mill, near  the F.A.N.G Center,” he replied, “Maybe check there , Dutch over ”

“G ot it,” she murmured , mainly to herself , as she put her radio down next to her backpack in the passenger seat.

The Baron Lumber Mill had been abandoned  a year or so after Eden’s Gate arrived and was mainly used for illegal parties for a while . Evelyn wasn’t much of a fan of parties and never went, but every teen in Hope County knew. In fact, she was surprised her father, who was partn ers with the Sheriff, didn’t know.  And she never said a word.

Then, out of nowhere, the Sheriff’s Department got an anonymous tip a bout an illegal party and not long after, the lumber mill  belonged to Eden’s Gate.

Not that they did anything with it.

Until now, Evelyn assumed.

The Baron Lumber Mill was still a fair distance away, seeing as it was close to the other side of the  Mountains . The road to said lumber mill was filled with Peggie roadblocks and cultists holding innocent people hostage. If it weren’t for the fact that she was saving lives, Evelyn would’ve been annoyed by how  many times she had to park her car and get out.

She wanted to solve things peacefully but had to shoot the Peggies when they aimed their guns at her. It wasn’t as if she could just whip out her badge and say ‘Hi, I’m the rogue deputy Joseph wants you to hunt down, kidnapping people is illegal so would you mind untying that citizen? Thanks!’

What she also noticed was… Wolves. Except they looked different. Sure, she’d heard of wolves in the mountains, but never about white wolves with a red cross on their face while a green smoke radiated from their body. It made her think of the cult’s Chosen .

The lumber mill was right across a gas station and Evelyn felt as if she was part of some weird comedy movie when she filled her car’s fuel tank. No one was inside. In fact, it looked as if the place had been robbed a few times. She still felt bad for not paying, though, and for leaving her car there while she entered the forest surrounding the Baron Lumber Mill.

The first thing she spotted was a sniper, on the roof of the lumber mill. With her silent sniper rifle, she could take him out without alerting any Peggies. Outside, she could see a couple more but she knew they weren’t the only ones. The others were either inside or behind the building. She’d have to take a long way around or be bold and go through the building.

Least to say, she was feeling pretty bold.

Sneaking up to the building was easy. The alarms playing  Let The Water Wash Away Your Sins drowned out the noise of her footsteps as she hid behind a container . With a simple peek around the corner, she already noticed two Peggies.  She couldn’t take them out without one crying out for help, though, and looked past a fence that was covered up by a  rain tarp . She was forced to hide behind it when a Peggie walked down a staircase and  towards her.

Judging by his armour, it’d take more than one bullet to the head to kill him so instead, she waited until he passed her before jumping on him and snapping his neck swiftly, nearly cutting her hands on the helmet. Evelyn let his body fall to the ground and sneaked behind the wall, spotting another Peggie on a metal bridge. She had to find a way upstairs but her footsteps would be too loud against the metal stairs.

A stack of wooden pallets near an open window was begging  for  her to climb inside.

She entered a kitchen , which was  dirtier than she’d expected. Clearly, the Cult never heard of cleaning. She didn’t have all day to complain about the mess and instead looked outside the window on the other side . A Peggie was passing by and forced Evelyn to duck behind the wall. When she  hoped the Peggie had passed , she peeked out only to be met with the Peggie’s back.

Forcing herself to be silent, she pulled the Peggie backwards by wrapping her arms around his neck, covering his mouth with her hand. He clawed at her arms as she shoved him against the wall and kicked his head against it. Slumped against the wall,  she left him there .

Leaving the kitchen, she could either enter a hangar or walk down a staircase next to it. The Peggie  turning the corner behind the  hangar made the decision for her. She hid behind the metal wall and listened carefully t o the footsteps coming closer , although it was hard due to a Peggie loudly singing along to a cult song above the hangar .  The footsteps stopped at the top of the stairs and she heard the Peggie yawn. Looking behind the wall,  she spotted him just walking to the other side. Evelyn wasted no time sneaking up on the Peggie and snapping  her neck before hiding the body in the hangar.

“ Now he's our father ! H e's gonna lead us down that path !” a Peggie sang  off-key above her. God, she’d kill him just for his singing. She had to find a way up, though, and until she was sure every other Peggie was  dead , she couldn’t do that just yet.

Walking down the stairs and checking underneath the bridge, she spotted several cages, all locked up. Seeing as she didn’t have the key, she couldn’t help them out yet. Her first priority was making sure there were no more Peggies left, anyway. S he walked past the hangar and found  nothing. No Peggie. That didn’t mean she felt any safer. She didn’t think an outpost that big would only have a handful of Peggies guarding it.

On the other side she found two more Peggies who were easy to take care of.  After that, the outpost was empty, safe for the one Peggie on the hangar.

She climbed another tower, the one  the sniper she shot first was on previously. The Peggie on the hangar hadn’t seen her yet and she took advantage of that, sniping them quickly.

After making sure the entire mill was cleared, she sen t out a radio message to the resistance. Once there was confirmation of a Resistance convoy heading her way, she  freed the people from their cages .

There weren’t as many  resistance members as she expected and she wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not.

“Thank you, so much,” one of the few resistance members she rescued.

Only one of them didn’t thank her, didn’t even greet her.

Not that she was surprised. Compared to the others, this stranger looked like she’d been dragged through hell and back. Scars all over her face, clothes caked with blood and mud ,  yet a determined look in her face.

She went to the driveway of the mill, to wait for the resistance to arrive, when she spotted the silent stranger filling a  quiver with  arrows, a bow  slung over her shoulder.

A Resistance truck approached them, stopping in the driveway. The driver stepped out and Evelyn’s jaw dropped when she saw him. “Jesse? Is that you?”

“Eve, haven’t seen y ou since high school!”

Evelyn ran up to him,  laughing as she hugged him.

“Dude, I’ve been wonderin’ what you’ve been up to!” Evelyn laughs. She let him go for a moment to take a good look at him. Of course he looked older, more mature than when he was 20. He cut his hair. Evelyn remembered his black hair in dreads that went just past his back, but now it was shorter, considering he could hide it under his cap.

“How have you been?” he asked, to which she sighed, “Well, as good as it gets when you’re fighting a cult.”

Jesse chuckled, “Yeah, I get that. Man, it’s so good to see you.”

“Yeah man, you too! Speaking over text messages and e-mails is annoying.”

“Especially when the cult cuts off all contact.”

“How’s that girl you’ve been seein’? Hannah, right?”

Evelyn smiled uncomfortably, “We uh, broke up, not long after I told you about her,”

When Jesse’s smile disappeared, Evelyn quickly spoke again. “But I met someone else, the love of my life ‘n shit.”

“Well, you’re gonna need to tell me all about her!”

“Oh please, if I start we’ll be here for a while. Anyway,” Evelyn said, taking Jesse’s left hand and looking at his ring, “What’s this?”

He nervously laughs, “Yeah, uh... I got married.”

“Ooh, tell me everything? Do you have pictures?” she smiled, letting go of his hand.

He reached up and rubbed the back of his head, “Uh, yeah at home, which means you really need to come over sometime!”

An awkward cough came from behind her and she turned her head to face the stranger from earlier.

“Oh, Eve, this is Jess, Dutch’s niece,” Jesse introduced.

“Hi,” Evelyn greeted as they walked up to Jess. She offered her hand which Jess reluctantly shook. “Hey, thanks for busting me out. I got a job for you,” she said, “Ever heard of a guy named the Cook?”

Crossing her arms, Evelyn shook her head, “Can’t say I have, why?”

“He’s one of Jacob’s zealots and he’s one twisted fuck,” said Jess, “I almost tracked him down but a Peggie patrol got the drop on me. I know where he’s holed up but I can’t do this on my own.”

“Sure. I’ll help, where is he?”

“Follow me, we wasted too much time already. Grab a bow if you need one.”

“Wait  wait wait- A bow? Where are we... What?” Evelyn blurted out, confused. Jess let out an annoyed sigh, “Just follow me, I’ll lead you.”

“Go on, you can trust Jess to watch your back,” Jesse urged, nudging Evelyn forward. Evelyn took a bow, as instructed, and followed Jess, slinging the bow over her shoulder.

They walked past a fence and to a bridge near a pit. Upon closer inspection, Evelyn saw what was in the pit.

Bodies, burnt to a crisp.

“That’s his calling card,” Jess explained, averting her eyes from the body pit, “Innocent people, burned alive...”

“Why? Isn't the cult all about saving people?”

“The cult, maybe. Jacob? No,” she replied, “Goddamn cult’s grabbin’ everyone. They’ll take you from your home, the bar, even church... Don’t matter where you are. Then they slot you into one of two categories. Weak or strong.”

“It’s easy to see which category you’re in,” Evelyn blurted out, jogging after Jess as they followed the path in the mountains.

Jess paused, before uttering a quiet, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Jacob’s  buildin ’ an army,” she continued, seemingly ignoring what Evelyn had said (which she was grateful for), “And anyone who can’t - or won’t - fight for him, winds up dead.”

“So not even sent to John to atone?”

Jess shook her head, “’Culling the herd’, he calls it... Wholesale slaughter of innocent people. Nobody believed it was happening because nobody... Wanted to... Believe.”

The way she slowly trailed off as she stopped in her tracks confused Evelyn. Even more so when she dove into a bush and pulled Evelyn with her.

“Peggies, over there,” she whispered.

A quick peek showed three Peggies – only three Peggies.

“Whadd’ya say?”

“I can take out the two near the quad in one hit,” Evelyn said, nodding her head at the  Peggies standing in front of each other. She had a clear shot with her snipe rifle and could take out both of them.

“Good,” said Jess, “Let me take care  of the other one first.”

Evelyn watched as Jess sneaked closer through the bushes before lining up her shot. When she noticed, she aimed her rifle at the  Peggies , ready to shoot. She could see them react to their friend being shot with an arrow and immediately fired, killing them both instantly.

“Nice work,” Jess complimented her and she chuckled, “You too.”

“Let’s go.”

They followed the path once more, leading them to a campfire, this time without bodies, which Evelyn was grateful for.

“Then there’s the on we’re after:  the Cook,” Jess said, “He’s one of Jacob’s favourites. The one who leads his purging. The Cook’s bought into all of Jacob’s bullshit. But this motherfucker’s  gonna get what he deserves...”

If Evelyn had to guess, she’d say that Jess had a personal vendetta against the Cook – she wouldn’t say this out loud though.

Screams, from various people, came from the distance, not too far away. After sharing a quick glance, they mutually agreed they needed to hurry. Sprinting towards the sound, they noticed three people locked in cages – and several  Peggies walking around.

“We have to take ‘ em out quietly. If they spot us, those hostages are dead.”

“We got this,” Evelyn assured.

She first took care of the Peggie who was punching a  tied up hostage. Luckily, the cage they were in was hidden by some boxes so none of the other  Peggies noticed. Next, was a guy near a fire. His body fell behind cover and thus they were safe. Their only problems were the two  Peggies near each other, an armoured Peggie.

And an approaching car.

“You take care of the car, I'll sneak up on the Peggie in the back,” Jess said, not even waiting for Evelyn to react.

She groaned but did as was told anyway and took care of the two  Peggies in the car, while Jess took care of the other three that were left.

With the  Peggies dead, Evelyn climbed down the hill and to the hostages, freeing them one by one with Jess.

“Okay, let’s get moving,” Jess said, much to Evelyn’s dismay.

“What? Where to now? What about these people?”

“To the next camp!” Said Jess, furrowing her eyebrows, “These people will be fine!”

Evie looked at the three people they’d saved. Sure, they seemed fine, but what if reinforcements came and shot them all as soon as they left?

“Come on!” Jess urged, tugging on Evelyn’s arm, “We can’t let the Cook escape!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be fine,” reassured one of the hostages. Hesitantly, Evelyn nodded and followed Jess out of the camp.

“There’ll be more hostages deeper into the mountains. We need to save them too,” Jess explained, as if justifying her own words, but Evelyn sighed, conflicted by her morals.

It hadn’t been long since they left the hostages, but it sure felt like it. Tension so thick you could cut it with a knife made it awkward between them. Still, the silence started to bother both of them.

“So uh, does he... Does the ‘Cook’... Why is that his ‘title’?” Evelyn awkwardly asked.

Jess looked away and even though she was a few steps ahead, Evelyn could sense the hesitation in her movements.

“Couple years back, Jacob sent one of his guys out to round up this family,” she said after a moment of silence, “Parents and kids.”

Evelyn already didn’t like where this story was going.

“First thing he did was starve ‘ em . Gave ‘ em nothin ’, not even a drop of water. After three days, they got so thirsty they had to drink their own piss. But the kids didn’t want to do it, so the parents forced it down their throats... Kids puked it right back up. The Cook didn’t like that, so he went and strung the parents up on posts under the hot sun-”

Evelyn stayed quiet as Jess told her story, only for it to be interrupted with a gun shot. The two ran up the hill where they found another camp. “Peggie, near the tree, isolated from the others,” Jess pointed out and Evelyn took him out quickly.

“Two  Peggies below us, two over there...”

They had to work in sync to take out the two pairs of  Peggies , but managed just fine. No need to climb down either, thanks to the zipline installed on the tree. Three more hostages who quickly picked up the guns of the dead Peggies.

“So, you were saying?” Evelyn asked as they left the camp, since Jess was interrupted.

“The Cook,” Jess continued, “He had the parents on posts and decided to give the kids a little water.”

“And then he asked if they were hungry. Kids were  starvin ’ so they said yes. Started begging for food... Cook asked if they want pork. Kids said yes.  So he went out to the parents and took their shoes off and started to play ‘This little piggy went to the market...’ and the blood poured like a damn faucet.”

Evelyn could feel her toes curl up instinctively at  Jess’ story.

“Cook had a big ol’ grin on his face as he offered each little piece to the kids...”

“Shit, hold on, I feel sick,” Evelyn groaned.

Jess gave her a blank stare, watching as Evie paused for a moment. After a few deep breaths, Evelyn nodded, “Alright, let’s go.”

“Pretty soon there were no more  piggies left,” Jess said, continuing their walk, “So he laughed and set the parents on fire... And the air filled up with that  sickly sweet smell of roasting flesh... I’ll never forget that smell...”

Evelyn’s eyes widened as she gulped – it was as if she could smell it herself.

“When they finally stopped screaming, I looked around and he was just... Gone. Vanished like some sort of demon in the night... Anyways, that’s why they call him the Cook.”

“God, I can’t  fucking wait to kill him,” grunted Evelyn.

“Good,” she replied, “We’re nearly there.”

After a small climb up the mountain, they reached another camp near the road. Various  Peggies were walking around but the two women had their eyes set on the man wielding the flamethrower.

“That’s him,” said Jess through gritted teeth.

“Let’s get this over with,” Evelyn grumbled, aiming her rifle. Focussing her sights on the  gastank on the Peggie’s back, she shot and watched the Peggie explode, taking two nearby Peggies along.

She could hear Jess whisper something under her breath but for now, Evelyn was preoccupied with the other  Peggies , running around like headless chickens when they heard the explosion.

Taking them out was harder – moving targets always were. But with the help of Jess, the  Peggies dropped like flies.

They climbed down the mountain to check for survivors or other  Peggies , only to find the camp empty. After taking a few  medkits and bullets, they decided to leave it there.

“Dutch was right,” Jess quietly said, catching Evelyn’s attention, “Cook’s dead and... And I don’t feel anything...”

“Jess...” Evelyn breathed out, frowning.

“All I ever wanted was to find this guy,” she continued, her voice cracking slightly, “And now... I don’t... I don’t know what I’m supposed to do...”

“Jess, revenge is... It’s a fool’s game but,” Evelyn struggled to find the words to say, “We just took down an important member of the cult! We’re one step closer to ending these assholes!”

Jess paused for a moment.

“You’re right... Dutch was right about you. You uh, ever need someone to watch your back, call me, and uh... Thanks, for everything you’ve done.”

“No problem,” Evelyn said with a small smile, “Same goes for you, call me if you need me.”

A tight nod from Jess and their conversation was over.

Evelyn was left all alone in the now abandoned camp.

After a brief look around to make sure she was alone, she pulled her radio off her belt and contacted Dutch.

“Hello?”

“Dutch! Just helped your niece!” Evelyn announced, idling around the camp.

“Great work, Evelyn,” Dutch said, and Evelyn could hear the hint of a smile, “What are you gonna do now?”

“Uh, I don’t know,” she replied, “Got anything for me?”

“Uh, just a bit northwest of you there’s a cult outpost, used to be the F.A.N.G Center.”

“Ooh, Cheeseburger!”

“Yeah well, he’s missing so maybe you can find him afterwards.”

“Will do, thanks!”

“Dutch out.”

F.A.N.G  Center had changed since Evelyn visited with her class, back in middle school – then again that was over a decade ago. But back then, there weren’t fences, nor machine guns surrounding the  center .

A voice came through the alarm system.

“...never wanted any of this to happen...”

Staci.

Hearing his voice only  fuelled her determination to save him. Sure, they often butted heads but for the most part, they got along. And she definitely didn’t want him to get kidnapped by the damn cult.

The giant talking Cheeseburger statue had seen better days, Evelyn noticed as she climbed it. Bullet holes, squeaky gears and a broken radio – it desperately needed to be fixed. She sat atop the giant metal cheeseburger and pulled out her binoculars, scoping out the area. Two wolves, two armoured guys, one Chosen. The rest were easy to take out. The place was heavily armed, but so was the Lumber  Mill land she managed just fine, didn’t she?

She managed to take out two  Peggies standing near the shop with one bullet, a Judge left alone in a pen, a sniper and a Chosen isolated from the rest. The  Peggies that were left were all grouped together though, proving it’d be a challenge for her.

But they apparently didn’t know where she was and it worked in her favour.

Seven dead  Peggies later and she was ziplining down to the outpost.

It took the Resistance nearly half an hour to revive, but she was glad nonetheless. Mainly because it was noon and she was growing hungry. While Evelyn was waiting for the microwave to heat up her meal, she decided to contact the radio of Fall’s End.

“Hello? Anyone there?”

“Evelyn?” Mary May asked.

Evelyn sighed in relief, “Ah, Mary May? Hey uh... Is Joey around?”

“Joey? Yeah, hold on, she’s about to leave- Hey, Joey!”

A few muffled voices later, Evelyn heard Joey’s familiar voice through the radio.

“Hello?”

“Joey,” Evelyn automatically smiled, “Hey, so... How are you?”

Talking to Joey over the radio made her feel like she was 24, calling Joey on the phone after arriving back at her home in Helena. She remembered how giddy she felt back then, and the feeling was definitely similar.

“I’m fine,” Joey chuckled, “What are you doing?”

“Ooh, at least take me out to dinner first,” Evelyn joked, checking on her microwave meal.

“Eve, we’ve been dating for three years,” she pointed out, “I’m sure we’ve had enough dinners together.”

“Hmm, one more couldn’t hurt,” Evelyn chuckled, “I’m at F.A.N.G  Center , Cheeseburger went missing! Crazy, right?”

“Really? You’d think a huge bear with a cheeseburger collar would be easy to find!”

“Yup, so that’s why I’m  gonna look after him!”

“Evie.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t get eaten by a bear, please?”

“I’ll try my best,” Evelyn laughed as the microwave beeped.

“So, I’m guessing you won’t be home soon?” Joey sighed and she frowned, “Sorry, I... I’ll try  my best, okay?”

“It’s fine, I’m about to head out with Grace, save some Resistance members near the Lamb of God church.”

“Don’t get killed by  Peggies , please?”

“I promise,” Joey snickered, “Anyway,  gotta go, Grace is waiting.”

“Good luck,” Evelyn quietly murmured, but Joey didn’t reply.

After finishing her lunch and cleaning up, she left the small kitchen and saw the Resistance members cleaning up the blood stains.  Peggies had smeared blood over the walls, writing words like “Cull the weak” and “Wrath”, reminding her of her new Wrath tattoo.

“Hey, I heard Cheeseburger was missing?” Evelyn asked the first person she saw. Luckily, they pointed her in the right direction. “Yes, uh, Wade knows more about it, he’s over  there somewhere.”

Wade was near the entrance, cleaning up. His Cheeseburger t-shirt let Evelyn know he was the man she’d been looking for.

“Oh hey!” he greeted her once he noticed her, ”The hero of the day!”

“Just trying to help,” Evelyn said, a tight smile on her face.

“Yeah, well, I’m just glad to see it  outta cult hands, training those wolves to cause hell,” Wade shrugged, crossing his arms, “And they been shippin’ those crazy wolves all the way to the old Lumber Mill, to keep an eye on prisoners.”

“Really? I was there this morning and didn’t see any.”

“Strange. Though, I  ain’t surprised, they often take those Judge’s on hunts.”

Evelyn hummed, “Anyway, Cheeseburger?”

“Cheeseburger, Hope County’s very own celebrity! The poor bear... He had a soft spot for Chad’s bbq, but he got the diabetes, so we put him on a liquid salmon diet. Anyhoo, cult tried to take him so I... I set him free.”

“You set a domesticated bear free?!”

“Well-”

“Where do I find him?” Evelyn sighed, facepalming.

Wade nervously smiled, “Well, first, you’re  gonna need some salmon, there’s a pond near that airstrip filled with it so maybe try your luck there. Cheeseburger himself was last seen at Linero’s Building Supplies”

“Airstrip?”

“Yeah, Jacob had it built with a hangar and all just for his plane.”

All kinds of ideas filled Evelyn’s mind, “So uh, where is this pond?”

“North-east of here, good luck!”

The airstrip wasn’t hard to find, the entrance and the large radio tower gave it away. Getting in the hangar was a bit harder though. It was locked from the inside and there was no way in. Except for a tiny window in the back, just big enough for her to fit through. After carrying an empty crate to climb on, she crawled through the window.

She nearly fell, but managed to fall on her shoulder to tuck and roll, thus landing safely. The first thing she noticed was the big, red plane. It looked a lot like John’s plane but, well, red.

The Eden’s Gate logo decorated the wings and back of the plane, glaring at her and making her grit her teeth.

Time to fix that, she decided.

Lucky for her, the cult didn’t just store the plane, they also stored other cult supplies – including a can of black paint.

It was half empty, but she didn’t need that much anyway.

Soon, the four  logo’s were covered with some crude drawings of dicks, boobs, and other obscene stuff.

Least to say, she was pleased with herself.

She left the hangar’s gates open to make sure anyone could see her artwork.

The pond Wade mentioned wasn’t far. However, she didn’t have a fishing rod, nor any success when it came to fishing.

She used to go fishing with her dad, but never had the patience.

Someone else was fishing, too, and Evelyn noticed the bucket by his feet. “Hey!” Evelyn greeted as she walked up to him.

He gave her a disinterested glare but didn’t return her greeting. “Are those salmon?” she asked awkwardly.

A grunt. She took that as a yes.

“How much for one?”

He looked her up and down and muttered, “Twenty-five.”

“Twenty-five?!”

“Take it or leave it.”

Annoyed, Evelyn pulled out her wallet and gave him the money, grumbling a “fine” as she did.

He then threw the dead salmon in her hands, nearly scaring her. She had the urge to push him in the pond but decided against it. She wasn’t sure what to do with the salmon. Carrying it all the way would be too hard, but she couldn’t just put it in her backpack. In the end, she did anyway.

Now she had to find Cheeseburger. She’s never heard nor been to Linero’s Building Supplies, but it was marked on her map.

When she arrived there, however, she didn’t find Cheeseburger.

Instead, she found Peggies.

Peggies who nearly spotted her.

Still, there were only three so that was easy to take care of.

After looting their bodies for ammo, she decided to look around when she heard a voice.

A voice that was all too familiar.

“We’ll send backup as soon as we can, just make sure to contain that bear!”

_ “Yes, Father. Praise be to you.”  _

She was about to take a step back, but instead opted to stamp on the radio instead, breaking it into pieces. “Fuckin’ Nancy,” she growled, before hearing other growls. Growls coming from an animal.

Walking up to a ledge, she saw a grizzly bear fast asleep. More importantly, there was a cheeseburger collar around it’s neck.

“Gotcha,” she whispered under her breath, climbing down the ledge. As she neared the animal, he only seemed to get bigger. She slowly pulled out the salmon, as if moving  to fast would scare Cheeseburger, before approaching him.

He seemed to instinctively wake up when smelling the fish and stood on his hind legs, startling Evelyn. The animal was nearly twice her size, and could kill her immediately. Her hands shaking, she finally dropped the fish in front of him. Cheeseburger fell back on his paws and started eating the fish greedily.

Nervously, Evelyn took a step closer and reached out to pet him, pulling away for a brief second before finally touching his soft fur.

When he was finally done with his meal, he leaned into her touch and Evelyn smiled. “Hey, buddy... Guess you’re coming with me, huh?”

“Damn it!” someone loudly cursed in the distance, “Body’s still warm, there’s a killer about!”

“Shit!” Evelyn gasped, but Cheeseburger seemed to jump into action and ran up a ramp to attack. Evelyn immediately chased after him, to both kill the  Peggies and to make sure he’d be safe.

Peggies came from left and right, and she nearly got shot a bunch of times if it weren’t for Cheeseburger.

When the fight was done, Cheeseburger walked over to her, as if asking to be pet. Evelyn eagerly scratched his head.

“Alright, time to get you back to F.A.N.G Center.”

Upon hearing her words, Cheeseburger let out a loud whining sound.

“No? You  wanna stay with me?”

Cheeseburger whined again, this time in an affirmative tone.

Sighing, Evelyn nodded, “Alright, you can tag along today but after that, straight to F.A.N.G Center.”

Evelyn’s plan, at first, was to walk and help any Resistance members they’d come across, to then end up near an outpost so she could get a ride home.

Instead, she ended up at  Hurk Sr ’s house.

And she’d never met a more insufferable man before.

The first thing she noticed was the makeshift shrine with a man praying in front of it. She almost didn’t notice  Hurk Sr until he demanded she came over to him. Sitting in a rocking chair, cherishing his shotgun while smoking a cigarette,  Hurk Sr didn't even bother to stand up.

“ So you’re the one that’s been putting these bad hombres down. I thought you’d be... Taller,” he grunted, looking her up and down. She glared at him and crossed her arms, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

His eyes widened as Cheeseburger climbed up the small steps to stand next to her, “Nothing, nothing.”

She quirked an eyebrow, as if challenging him while he seemed eager to change the subjects.

“You uh, you a registered voter?” he asked, “Ah, it don’t matter. I need help of a different sort?”

“Implying I’d vote for you,” she grunted, glancing at her nails.

“Let’s get to the point,” he bit back, “You see that steaming pile of disappointment over there prayin’? That’s my loinfruit?”

Glancing over to the shrine, she saw the man still praying.

“That’s your son?”

“Sadly.  Hurk Junior. Dumber than a coal bucket. He takes after his mama.”

“Are you sure?”

“Stupid sum bitch went and lost my campaign truck, Nancy,” he ignored her remark, “So named after the greatest First Lady to ever serve this fine country, of course.”

“My girlfriend and I aren’t big fans,” Evelyn glared, gritting her teeth, “I need to go.”

“Hey!” he yelled as she was about to walk off, “I got a job for you!”

“Nope, not happening!”

“It’ll let you into the Wolf’s Den.”

Evie sighed deeply.

“Can’t believe I’m doing this,” she murmured before turning around, “Fine, what?”

“Well  ain’t you got a bug up your ass,” he snapped, “Junior! Someone’s here to help  ya! Try not to fuck it up!”

Walking over to  Hurk Jr, she already came up with a plan.

“Hurk?” she said, approaching the man who’d stopped praying by now.

“Hey man- sorry, I don’t  wanna go assuming nobodies gender or nothin’-”

Evelyn interrupted before he could continue, “Hurk- it’s fine. Listen, your dad... He’s a dick.”

Hurk Jr sheepishly smiled, “We just  gotta get his truck back, alright? Then I'll be allowed back in the house!”

“He- HE’S FORCING YOU TO SLEEP OUTSIDE?!”

Hurk’s eyes widened when Evelyn yelled, surprised by her anger.

“Okay, that’s it. Let’s just go destroy cult property together, I’m sure there are beds at the outposts.” Evelyn sighed.

“Wait, are you for real?”

“Yeah, anything’s better than him, right?”

Instead of saying something,  Hurk immediately hugged her, picking her up. For a moment, she was startled, but the hug was over before she realized.

“Come on, let’s find some shit to destroy!” Evelyn laughed.

“Hell ye- IS THAT A BEAR?!”

“Uh, yeah, that’s Cheeseburger, I need to drop him off at F.A.N.G Center.”

“He’s so cute!”  Hurk gushed over Cheeseburger.

Evelyn took a deep breath, “Let’s go, alright?”

The road to F.A.N.G  Center was long and filled with  Peggies . She lost count of how many people they’d saved after the sixth. Eventually, the Cheeseburger statue came into view. It was around five pm when they arrived and after enjoying dinner, Evelyn was glad to head home.

But when her radio came to life, she wasn’t sure whether to expect the best or fear the worst.

“There is someone out there... Pretending to be a soldier. They are killing our brothers and sisters, and putting the Project in jeopardy. I want this coward to know that they have my attention... My hunters are coming for you. There’s nowhere you can run.”

“Shit,” she grunted. Another Seed out to hunt her.

“’Hunters’ don’t sound too good...” Dutch’s voice came through, scaring her immediately.

“Shit, you scared me!” she yelped.

Dutch apologized and continued his sentence: “If Jacob wants you, he’s  gonna send his best out after you. Watch your back, Evelyn.”

She hummed, “Of course.”

Maybe she could escape the mountains before they found her. The forest would make it easier to hide, too. She deemed it worth a shot.

The Peggie aiming an arrow at her leg didn’t, though.

A sharp sting in her upper right thigh startled her. Looking down, she saw the arrow lodged in her leg as her sight grew hazy – just like when she was hit by the Bliss bullet.

She dropped to her knees, trying to pull the arrow out, only to find her arms devoid of strength. Before she knew it, she had fallen to the ground completely and was forced to watch the Peggie lift her up before passing out.

The room she was in was dark, but there was a light on, a shadowy figure was standing in front of her. When her vision stopped being blurry, she noticed it was Staci.

He looked exhausted. Bags under his eyes that were red, a bruise on his cheek and stitches on his nose. His deputy shirt was hanging open, holes and dirt covering it. His badge was gone, ripped off. He was tying her down to a chair. Any other day, she’d have fought him off, but she simply lacked the energy.

“You shouldn’t have come for me. You should have run,” he whispered through gritted teeth, worriedly looking off to the side. 

Before she could reply, he walked away.

Next to her was a projector, casting images of wolves and dead deer on the wall. Thanks to said projector, she saw two other people, tied up.

When she heard footsteps, she tried to turn her head only to find it tied to the back of the chair.

“The world is weak. Soft,” said the voice of the radio – Jacob, “We have forgotten what it is to be strong.”

He finally appeared from behind the projector.

“You know, our heroes used to be gods. And now our heroes are godless. Weak, feeble, diseased.”

“We let the weak dictate to the powerful,” he continued, turning around to face his small audience, “And then we are shocked to find ourselves adrift.”

“But history knows the value of sacrifice. Of culling the herd," said Jacob, walking over to the person on the left, “So that it stays strong.”

He walked over to the right.

“Over and over, the lives of the many have outweighed the lives of the few. This is how we survived. And we’ve forgotten...”

“And now, the bill has come due.”

He set his eyes on her, immediately sparking a feeling of discomfort inside her.

“Now, the Collapse is upon us, and this time the lives of the few outweigh the lives of the many.”

He definitely got closer than he did with the other two, to the point where he was pinning her wrists down harder against the chair. She tried her best to pull away, but it was hard since she was already tied to the chair.

“And when a nation that’s never known hunger or desperation descends into madness, we’ll be ready.”

With that, he finally let go of her to pick something up from the table next to her. A tiny wooden box.

“We will cull the herd,” he said, winding up the box, “We will do what needs to be done.”

With one last look at her, he finally opened the music box and the sound of ‘Only You’ came from behind her. Then in front of her. Then all around her as her vision grew red.

When her vision returned to normal, she was still in the same room, but something was off. She couldn’t point out what, though.

Suddenly, she was free from her restraints. She had to escape.

_ Pick up the gun and kill. _

_ Kill the target before the time runs out. _

And she did. There was a large table in the middle of the room with a gun on top of it. As soon as she picked it up, the two others in the room with her were freed as well. She had to react quick.

Sliding over the table, she kicked the person on the left before shooting the one on the right. She then quickly disarmed the first person before snapping their neck.

_ Tick tock. _

She had to hurry.

Running into the hallway, she found another gun. In the other room, there were more targets. Two up  top , two on the floor. She shot the two targets on the balcony first before jumping over the barricade to snap the target’s neck, quickly moving to kill the last one.

_ Good. Cull the herd. _

She found a shotgun.

The next room was more like a maze and every dead end led to a target she had to kill. Eventually she lost count. They all yelled things like ‘You’re no hero!’ and begged her not to kill them but she had no choice.

_ Well done. _

A rifle.

She entered a courtyard, with a gate decorated with the name “St. Francis’ Veterans Center”.

She’d heard of it, never been there though.

For now, she had to focus on the targets. Ducking behind roadblocks and cars, she tried to take them out quickly, trying to keep her time in mind.

Next, she entered a room with cages and stairs – with more targets. Two up  top . Taking them out was hard, as they kept hiding behind a half wall. That didn’t stop her from climbing up and killing them, though.

At the other side of the room was a tunnel, leading downwards. She had to jump.

She didn’t want to.

She had to.

Taking a deep breath, she allowed herself to slide down the tunnel.

Except the song was fading, and so was the room around her.

Darkness.

She opened her eyes, only to find herself back in the same room where she’d been tied up. The projector was still rolling and the Only  You song was still playing. She was still tied to the chair, except the chair had fallen and she was now forced to lie on her side.

Two figures entered her line of sight but she could barely move. She couldn’t free herself even if she wanted to.

“What a mess.” said one of them, his voice echoing, “ Wheaty , check those chairs.”

“Jesus, the smell,” gasped someone else, someone she couldn’t see.

“Been  stewin ’ in their own filth for hours. Walker, get some window open.”

A figure approached the dead body in front of her she could now see.

“Someone shut that music off.”

“Christ... It’s Sully,” said the person in front of her, “When did they get him? Why are we even bothering with this? They’re all de-”

“Check ‘ em anyway.”

“Why am I always stuck on corpse duty,” he groaned, moving to pick up her chair before realising she was still alive. Upon noticing, he dropped the chair, causing it to fall as he cursed loudly.

“Live one!” said the other man , ”Walker , go get the truck!”

‘Walker’ stuttered out a ‘Yes sir’ while the other man put down his bow to help ‘ Wheaty ’ pick up the chair again.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry...” Wheaty apologized.

Evelyn wanted to say ‘it’s fine’ but her speech was slurred. They finally got her back up and began to untie her.

“Eli, is this...”  Wheaty started.

“Yep,” Eli replied.

“What’s she doing here?!”

“Jacob took a shine to ‘ er , same as us.”

“You’re  gonna be ok, Hero,” Eli said, about to untie her ankles, “Whitetail’s gotcha now.”

They finally lifted her up, arms over their shoulders as her feet dragged over the floor.

“We’re bringing her back to the Wolf’s Den?” Wheaty asked.

“Where else?”

“Tammy’s not gonna like this.”

“Don’t worry ‘bout Tammy, she’ll be fine.”

"If you say so...”

They let her rest in the back of the truck. Not that it really helped, considering the road wasn’t in the best state. Still, she tried her best to relax. It was hard, though. What had she done? What had happened while she was in there? Considering the sky had gone dark and the stars were shining bright, she was definitely gone for a while. Was Joey alright? Was Joey waiting for her?

The truck stopped after a while, and she was helped into a bunker – The Wolf’s Den, she’d assumed.

After a bunch of hallways, they finally put her down on the couch where she could rest for a while.

Not for long, though.

“I can’t believe it, are you out of your fucking mind?” said a female voice. Tammy, if Evelyn had to guess.

“Now hold on,” Eli said calmly, “Wheaty and I agreed-”

Upon hearing that, Tammy quickly pointed a finger at  Wheaty , “You agreed?!”

“Woah!”  Wheaty gasped, raising his hands in surrender, “I was at best an impartial observer!”

“This is dangerous,” Tammy scolded, “You both know better!”

“What was I supposed to do?”

“Leave ‘ er to die!”

“Uh, excuse m-” Evelyn started, but she was quickly interrupted, “Tammy, that’d make us as bad as them.”

“They’ve been in that room for hours! I’ve seen what even one hour can do! You haven’t! You can’t trust this one.”

With that, Eli turned to glare at her. “That’s what everyone said about you, but luckily, I didn’t listen.”

Tammy wanted to defend her point but Eli quickly shot her down. “This is not up for discussion. We need her. That’s all there is to it. Understand?”

Rolling her eyes, Tammy left the room, followed by Wheaty.

Eli glanced at Evelyn and murmured: “Sorry about them...”

“Don’t worry,” she blinked, “Uh... What time is it? Where’s my backp-”

“Hey, hey, calm down,” he said, sitting down next to her, “You need to rest, alright?”

“No, I need to go home.”

She tried to stand up again but was quickly pushed down by Eli. “It’s too late, and you shouldn’t be driving.”

“I’m fine, I swe-”

“Evie? Eve? Evelyn?”

“Who the hell...”

Hurk came barging in, smiling as he did. “There you are!”

“How did you find this place?” Eli said, his voice deep as he stood up. “Oh, uh, Fella told me! I think he said his name was Dutch! Said Dep might want a ride home!”

Evelyn resisted the urge to laugh and stood up, “There, I got a ride.”

Rolling his eyes, Eli relented. “Fine, but I swear, if anything happens.”

“Don’t worry!”  Hurk smiled.

As Evelyn followed him outside, she definitely felt how exhausted she was. But she wanted to go home. Now.

Hurk helped her into his car that smelt like weed and bear, but she couldn’t afford to care. She was too busy trying to think of excuses to tell Joey, before eventually ending up with telling the truth instead.

Hurk didn’t bother to start an awkward conversation. Instead, he opted to sing along to the Resistance radio while Evelyn laughed. Admittedly, she did sing along with him from time to time, even if just to stay awake. Soon, the roads became more familiar and the houses started to look more like Holland Valley.

“Turn left here,” Evelyn yawned against her hand.

“Here?”

“Yeah.”

Hurk pulled into the driveway of Joey – or well, their house. The light was still on. What time was it?

As soon as Evelyn closed the door of the car, the front door opened. Joey immediately ran up to Evelyn, jumping into her arms and hugging her tightly, Boomer running around their feet.

“Damn it, Evie, where the hell were you?!”

“It’s a... Long story, I promise I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

“ Awww , you guys are so cute!”

They pulled away to see Hurk, who quickly realized he’d ruined a moment.

“Uh, this is  Hurk .  Hurk Drubman Jr.” Evelyn explained, “I met him today, he was nice enough to take me home.”

“Oh, uh... Nice to meet you!” Joey said hesitantly.

“Thanks, sorry for... Ruining the moment,” he sheepishly said.

“Can he stay? Just for tonight? It’s too late to be driving... I think?”

Joey sighed, “Sure, I’ll prepare the couch.”

After making sure  Hurk was fine in the living room, Evelyn and Joey left for the bedroom.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Joey muttered as Evelyn changed clothes.

“Yeah... I... I promise I’ll tell you tomorrow,” Evelyn murmured, “For now, can... Can I just sleep?”

Joey sighed and embraced Evelyn. She moved closer against Joey, if that was even possible, trying to get as comfortable as possible.

In her girlfriend’s arms, it was easy to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For more Evie, you can find me on tumblr at joeyhxdson.tumblr.com!


	6. An Update

Hi everyone!

I don't know if anyone will read this, honestly, but I want to apologize for the lack of updates. I've meanwhile left the FC5 fandom but up to this day, Evelyn is still one of my favourite OCs and I miss her a lot. I was wondering about what to do with this story. Far Cry 5's story has always meant a lot to me, but I'm just not sure what to do. Part of me wants to continue. Part of me wants to start from scratch, considering Evelyn's story has changed even more since then. Part of me also wants to delete it and never look back and I'm just not sure what to do right now.

Anyway, thank you so much for the kudos, comments, hits, bookmarks etc. it means so, so much to me. I really love all the support and hopefully, if I ever decide to continue/rewrite Evelyn's story, I'll get to see you guys again 💖💖💖

Much love,

Emily (& Evelyn)

**Author's Note:**

> You can find more for my deputy on my blog: racheljessopsfaith.tumblr.com ^-^  
> Please leave kudos and a comment if you liked it!


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